By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) – Manchester City striker Erling Haaland claimed another Premier League goal-scoring record but could not extend his side’s incredible winning sequence or keep them top as the champions were held to a 1-1 home draw by Liverpool on Saturday.
The 23-year-old Haaland fired City ahead after 27 minutes following a poor clearance from Liverpool keeper Alisson to reach the 50-goal mark in just 48 games — 17 games fewer than it took previous record holder Andy Cole.
But Trent Alexander-Arnold drilled in an 80th-minute equaliser with his right foot to deny City a 24th successive home win in all competitions.
The result left City on 29 points from 13 games with Liverpool one point behind and Arsenal later claimed a late 1-0 victory at Brentford thanks to Kai Havertz’s header. Arsenal leapfrogged Liverpool and City into first place with 30 points.
Chelsea’s mini-resurgence came to a shuddering halt as they were crushed 4-1 at Newcastle United while Brighton and Hove Albion returned to winning ways with a 3-2 victory at Nottingham Forest despite ending the game with 10 men.
Haaland did what he does best, firing home after Alisson’s poor clearance had found its way to Nathan Ake.
But there was a lack of killer-instinct about City in a low-key affair and they were made to pay as Alexander-Arnold rammed in Liverpool’s equaliser seconds after Alisson had made a great save to deny Haaland at the other end.
“Trent was super-influential today. Not only in the goal — around the goal, in all situations he was a really important player and a really good game from him,” Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said.
“We don’t check if we are as good as City. We want to be ready in these games to give them a proper game, and that’s what we did today.”
Arsenal were not at their best and keeper Aaron Ramsdale could have made the headlines for all the wrong reasons as he got away with a huge mistake having been recalled to the Premier League starting side for the first time since September.
His loss of possession in his own penalty area should have resulted in a goal by Bryan Mbeumo but his shot was cleared off the line by Declan Rice.
‘RESILIENCE AND BELIEF’
Arsenal had a goal by Leandro Trossard ruled out for offside and Brentford had their moments before Havertz stooped to head in Bukayo Saka’s cross in the 89th minute.
“We are so happy, we fully deserved to win. We competed extraordinarily well, we should have scored much earlier but this is a really tough place to come,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said. “We showed a lot of resilience and belief.”
Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino vowed to have his team in for Sunday morning training after they went down to a heavy defeat at sixth-placed Newcastle.
Newcastle striker Alexander Isak netted 13 minutes into his return from injury to fire the hosts ahead but Raheem Sterling’s free kick levelled it up 10 minutes later.
Jamaal Lascelles restored Newcastle’s lead on the hour and almost immediately a terrible mistake by Thiago Silva allowed fellow Brazilian Joelinton to make it 3-1.
Any chance Chelsea had of staging a comeback vanished when Reece James collected his second yellow card for an innocuous challenge in the 73rd minute and Anthony Gordon completed the rout in the 83rd minute as Chelsea remained in 10th place.
“We will go to the hotel, then train early tomorrow, no time off. We cannot blame the players, it is the team together. We need to understand the level we need to compete, and learn about this situation,” Pochettino said.
Joao Pedro came off the bench to score twice as Brighton came from behind to win 3-2 at Forest, despite finishing with 10 men after Lewis Dunk was dismissed for protesting.
Luton Town earned their first home win since returning to the top flight as they beat Crystal Palace 2-1 to move four points clear of the bottom three — Jacob Brown netting the winner. But bottom club Burnley are still waiting for their first home point after conceding twice late on in a 2-1 home defeat by West Ham United, having led 1-0.
Bournemouth won 3-1 away at Sheffield United.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)
