Arsenal extend Premier League lead

London, Dec. 5: Arsenal edged out Brentford 2-0 to restore their five-point lead at the top of the Premier League on Wednesday as Chelsea slumped to a 3-1 defeat at struggling Leeds.

Liverpool needed a late Nordi Mukiele own-goal to avoid another damaging defeat at home in a 1-1 draw with Sunderland, while Aston Villa climbed up to third after a 4-3 victory at Brighton.

Arsenal failed to hit top form at the Emirates Stadium but did enough to take another step towards a first league title in 22 years thanks to goals from Mikel Merino and Bukayo Saka.

Merino maintained his place up front despite Viktor Gyokeres' return to fitness and rewarded Arteta with another vital goal.

The Spaniard was picked out perfectly by Ben White's cross and powered in his 11th goal of the season for club and country.

"It's unbelievable what he has done again today," said Arteta. "The goal is magnificent. The movement, the quality, the finish, how he times it... It's phenomenal."

Saka was introduced on the hour mark and the England winger finally made the points safe in stoppage time as his strike had too much power for Caoimhin Kelleher.

Leeds boss Daniel Farke's job was reportedly on the line prior to Chelsea's visit to Elland Road after four consecutive defeats.

But Farke's players produced a huge performance for their boss to climb out of the relegation zone.

Jaka Bijol powered in Anton Stach's corner after just six minutes to give the hosts the perfect start.

Roared on by a vociferous home crowd, Leeds were rewarded for a dominant first 45 minutes when Ao Tanaka blasted in from the edge of the box.

Pedro Neto pulled a goal back for the Blues early in the second half, but Chelsea gifted Leeds a third and a vital win when Tosin Adarabioyo was caught on the ball inside his own box and Dominic Calvert-Lewin slotted home.

A late equaliser did little to lift the gloom around Anfield as Liverpool sit eighth.

The champions were hoping to have turned a corner with a much-needed 2-0 victory at West Ham on Sunday. However, it was the same old story for Arne Slot's men as the combination of defensive errors and a lack of attacking fluency cost them another two points. Sunderland took the lead on 67 minutes when Chemsdine Talbi pounced on a sloppy pass by Virgil van Dijk to fire in from outside the box.

Mbappe double powers zMadrid 

Kylian Mbappe scored twice and set up another as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 to cut Barcelona's La Liga lead back down to one point on Wednesday.

Xabi Alonso's side curtailed a run of three consecutive league draws away from home with one of their best displays of the season at Athletic's San Mames.

Mbappe opened the scoring early on as Trent Alexander-Arnold provided his first La Liga assist, with Eduardo Camavinga nodding in the second before the break.

French superstar Mbappe slammed home another in the second half for his 16th league goal of the season to seal Madrid's victory.

"I think the team played a complete game today, concentrating for the whole 90 minutes... it was probably the best match we've had, at a difficult place to go, at a big moment, and we took it on calmly and now we must continue," Alonso told reporters.

"After (last weekend's) draw at Girona we knew it was a big moment, and after getting it out of our system we'll start thinking about Sunday's match against Celta (Vigo).

"The calendar is very demanding and you can't think for too long about things, in the good moments and the bad ones." (AFP)