Premier League: Arsenal fights back to extend lead to 7 points, Newcastle move to second with win at Leicester

Arsenal showed how to fight back on Boxing Day, tritionally a busy time in English soccer, by beating West Ham 3-1 to stretch its le at top of Premier League to seven points.

Newcastle moved second with a 3-0 win at Leicester on Monday, pushing defending champion Manchester City down to third.

Said Benrahma’s 27th-minute penalty kick gave David Moyes’ West Ham a 1-0 le at halftime after Gunners h a spot kick disallowed by VAR on stroke of interval.

But Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta saw his team move up through gears after break with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli scoring with fine finishes at start of second period.

Eddie Nketiah sealed victory in front of former Arsenal manr Arsene Wenger by finishing off a slick move to fill void of injured Gabriel Jesus and earn Arsenal a 10th straight home win in Premier League.

Chris Wood’s penalty and a sublime strike by Miguel Almiron put Newcastle 2-0 up against Leicester after only seven minutes, with Joelinton ding a third just after half-hour mark for Magpies' sixth straight league win.

Man City, which visits Leeds on Wednesday, trails Newcastle by one point but has played two fewer games.

seven games Monday were first in Premier League in more than a month because of long break for World Cup in Qatar.

KANE SCORES

Harry Kane, who returned to Premier League after missing a penalty in England's World Cup quarterfinal loss to France two weeks ago, scored a goal to help fourth-place Tottenham come back from a two-goal deficit in a 2-2 draw with Brentford.

Kane shrugged off chants of “You let your country down” from a section of Brentford fans. He heed in a cross from Clement Lenglet in 65th. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg equalized six minutes later for Tottenham.

Vitaly Janelt and Ivan Toney scored for Brentford.

LIVERPOOL WINS AGAIN

Liverpool beat Aston Villa 3-1 for its third straight league win and stayed sixth, a point behind Manchester United. Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk struck in first half at Villa Park before Stefan Bajcetic scored near end of second.

Liverpool’s third straight victory moved club five points rift of Champions League spots.

“We have to be pain in backside for everyone," Liverpool manr Juergen Klopp said. “We are t in best position, re is distance between us and or teams, we kw that. first two or three are maybe too far away. If y win all ir games we have chance.”

In or games, Wolverhampton manr Julen Lopetegui marked his Premier League debut with a dramatic stopp-time 2-1 win at Everton. defeat ramped up pressure on Everton coach Frank Lampard. Substitute Rayan Ait-uri scored on counterattack in fifth minute of ded time. Wolves moved off bottom of table and within a point of 17th-place Everton.

Brighton beat struggling Southampton 3-1 at St. Mary's and trails Liverpool by one point. Southampton lost its fourth straight league game and dropped to last place.

Fulham won a Premier League derby in capital for only second time in 29 attempts with a 3-0 victory at nine-man Crystal Palace. Bobby Decordova-Reid, Tim Ream and Aleksandar Mitrovic scored for visitors while Tyrick Mitchell and James Tomkins were sent off for hosts.

Fulham manr Marco Silva dedicated win to George Cohen, club’s 1966 World Cup-winning England right back who died on Friday.

TUESDAY’S GAMES

Manchester United plays ttingham Forest at Old Trafford on Tuesday, with ninth-place Chelsea hosting Bournemouth.