Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck snatched a stoppage-time winner against leicester on his return from a 10-month injury layoff on Sunday, securing a 2-1 victory that cut the surprise Premier league leaders’ advantage over the london club to two points.
leicester was leading through Jamie Vardy’s 45th-minute penalty when Danny Simpson received two yellow cards in the opening nine minutes of the second half.
And Arsenal’s substitutions paid off for manager Arsene Wenger.
Theo Walcott equalised with Arsenal’s first shot on target with 20 minutes to go and Welbeck headed in Mesut Ozil’s free kick in the fifth minute of stoppage time. It ensured Arsenal became the first team to complete the double this season over leicester, which has only lost three times in the league.
Elsewhere, liverpool scored four goals in 13 second-half minutes to complete a 6-0 win at last-place Aston Villa on Sunday for the team’s biggest victory under Juergen Klopp.
Making his first league start in four months, striker Daniel Sturridge sparked the rout with the opening goal after 16 minutes before James Milner’s curling free kick from the left wing eluded everyone and bounced into the far corner in the 25th.
Emre Can, Divock Origi, Nathaniel Clyne and Kolo Toure scored in quick succession from the 58th minute in another embarrassing result for Villa, which is eight points from safety. It was Villa’s heaviest home defeat in 81 years.
liverpool climbed to eighth place, three points behind fifth-place Manchester United.
Chelsea rout Newcastle 5-0
Chelsea prepared for its Champions league trip to Paris Saint-Germain by routing Newcastle 5-1 on Saturday, the biggest win of a miserable Premier league season for the champions.
Chelsea climbed to 12th place but the london club remains 14 points from fourth place. Winning the Champions league is the only way back into Europe’s elite competition next season and the challenge resumes in Paris in the round of 16 on Tuesday.
Confidence will be high after this emphatic win over relegation-threatened Newcastle which saw Pedro Rodriguez score twice after Diego Costa’s fifth-minute opener while Willian and Bertrand Traore also netted.
There was a blow for Chelsea, with captain John Terry coming off before halftime with a “small muscular problem” that will be assessed on Sunday, manager Guus Hiddink said.
Hiddink remains unbeaten since replacing fired manager Jose Mourinho in December.
Meanwhile, in a late kick-off game between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspurs, Harry Kane’s goal from penalty spot in the 54th minute was enough to see Spurs over the line.