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 their early kickoff to stretch their lead to five points with Mohamed Salah scoring on his return from injury in a 4-1 victory in west London.
But Arsenal were undaunted and followed up their 6-0 win at West Ham United last weekend with a 5-0 victory at Turf Moor.
Liverpool have 57 points from 25 games with Arsenal on 55 and champions Manchester City, who were kicking off later at home to Chelsea, in third place on 52 from 23.
Aston Villa climbed back into fourth place courtesy of a 2-1 victory at Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 home defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
After a dip in form at the end of last year, Arsenal have now 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 after a foul on Leandro Trossard and Saka struck again just after the break for his 12th league goal of the campaign.
Trossard made it 4-0 and Kai Havertz added a fifth as Arsenal sent out another big title statement.
“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.
“I hope we can do it (win the title) because we are there but it is about consistency and you see the standards of the other teams. We want it, that’s for sure.”
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 after the break from Alexis Mac Allister and Salah effectively ended the contest.
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, probably we don’t know exactly how big they are, but we have them. 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 back in front 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 back into the Champions League qualifying berths.
Villa have 49 points from 25 games with Tottenham slipping down to fifth with 47 points after their five-game unbeaten run was ended by an impressive Wolves.
Brazilian Joao Gomes scored both goals for Wolves, the second after a super counter-attack, 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.
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