London: Arsenal’s goal rush continued unabated as they thrashed Burnley 5-0 to stay right in the slipstream of Premier League leaders Liverpool who thumped Brentford on Saturday.
Liverpool took advantage of an early kickoff to stretch their lead to five points with Mohamed Salah scoring on his return in a 4-1 victory in west London, while Manchester City salvaged a 1-1 draw with Chelsea thanks to a late goal by Rodri.
Arsenal were undaunted, however, and followed up their 6-0 win at West Ham United with a 5-0 victory at Turf Moor.
Liverpool have 57 points from 25 games with Arsenal on 55 and champions City in third place on 53 from 24.
Aston Villa climbed back into fourth courtesy of a 2-1 victory at Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 home defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers.
After a dip in form late last year, Arsenal have won five league games in a row and scored 21 goals in that sequence, conceding only two.
They were far too good for a Burnley side hurtling towards relegation and once Martin Odegaard opened the scoring in the fourth minute the result was a formality.
Bukayo Saka made it 2-0 from the penalty spot in the 41st and Saka struck again just after the break for his 12th league goal of the campaign.
Leandro Trossard made it 4-0 and Kai Havertz added a fifth as Arsenal sent out another big title statement.
Tough one
“At the moment all we can do is win our games and after our big two wins away from home we have a tough one in the Champions League at Porto,” manager Mikel Arteta said.
“They wanted more. The way they tracked back on the 95th minute was just incredible. That shows the desire that everybody has in this squad,” Arteta said. “Individually, we are in a really good moment ... we need to maintain that. When you have that momentum it is now about keeping doing it, we can still play better and do better things.
“We have to believe that we can win every game and we are approaching every game in that way. And when the team has that belief and confidence something good can happen.”
Liverpool were equally impressive at Brentford as they welcomed back talisman Salah who marked his return after a six-week absence due to a hamstring injury sustained while with Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Darwin Nunez opened the scoring with an exquisite chip, and goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Salah effectively ended the contest.
Rodri saviour
Chelsea’s Raheem Sterling scored against his former team late in the first half, but Rodri equalised for frustrated City in the 83rd minute to extend their unbeaten streak to nine league games.
“Two different halves, first half was not good enough and very disappointing, the second half was a reaction from the team,” City midfielder Bernardo Silva told the BBC.
The league’s leading striker Erling Haaland had nine shots with no goals for the first time in his City career, and pushed aside a camera in frustration.
Chelsea are 10th on 35 points.
Comfortable win
Ivan Toney pulled one back for Brentford, but Cody Gakpo grabbed Liverpool’s fourth to wrap up a comfortable win.
“We played an exceptional game,” manager Juergen Klopp said, although he will be anxiously assessing more injuries after Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota were taken off in the first half and Nunez failed to emerge after halftime.
“We have problems. But as long as we have 11 players, we will go for it,” added Klopp, whose title-chasing side face Luton Town in midweek.
Villa edged ahead in the battle for fourth as Ollie Watkins underlined his England credentials with both goals in the 2-1 victory at Craven Cottage.
Unai Emery’s side had to dig deep after Rodrigo Muniz pulled a goal back but held on to leapfrog Tottenham into the Champions League qualifying berths.
Villa have 49 points from 25 games with Spurs slipping to fifth on 47 points after their five-game unbeaten run was ended by an impressive Wolves.
Brazilian Joao Gomes scored both goals for Wolves, with Dejan Kulusevski equalising for a disappointing Spurs.
Nottingham Forest secured three vital points in their fight to avoid relegation as they beat West Ham United 2-0 to pile more pressure on Hammers boss David Moyes.
Taiwo Awoniyi struck early for Forest and Callum Hudson-Odoi sealed the victory late on. Forest moved up to 15th place with 24 points, five ahead of third-bottom Everton who face 16th-placed Crystal Palace on Monday West Ham, now winless in six matches, had Kalvin Phillips send off midway through the second half.
Seventh-placed Newcastle United twice came from a goal down to draw 2-2 at home to Bournemouth.
