LONDON, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Mikel Merino scored two late goals as Arsenal won 2-0 away to Leicester City on Saturday to close the gap at the top of the Premier League to two points ahead of Liverpool's game at home to Wolverhampton tomorrow.
It looked as if relegation threatened Leicester could cling on for a valuable point, while also highlighting Arsenal's injury crisis in attack, without Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli, before Merino timed his leap perfectly to nod Arsenal ahead in the 81st minute.
Leicester hardly threatened in attack, but Arsenal was short of ideas going forward despite its control ahead of Merino's opening goal, and he popped up again at the far post to assure the points in the last minute of the game.
Omar Marmoush completed a 33-minute hat-trick to put his side firmly in command at home to Newcastle United.
The January signing opened his account after latching onto a long clearance after 19 minutes, while his second arrived just five minutes later after an assist from Ilkay Gundogan.
The Egyptian didn't have to wait long for his third, smashing home from 12 meters after Salvinho pulled the ball back for him to score and youngster James McAtee finished the rout in the 84th minute.
Nottingham Forest slipped to a rare defeat as they lost 2-1 away to Fulham. Although Chris Woods cancelled out Emile Smith Rowe's headed opener for Fulham, Calvin Bassey won the game for the London side in the second half following Raul Jimenez's flick from a corner.
Bournemouth also got off to a flying start in its south-coast derby away to bottom of the table, Southampton, with Ryan Christie setting up Dango Ouattara for a 14th minute opener and then scoring the second two minutes later after Justin Kluivert's assist.
Kamaldeen Sulemana pulled a goal back for Southampton in the 72nd minute, but Marcus Tavernier assured the points for Bournemouth with his left-foot shot with seven minutes left.
Aston Villa will be disappointed with a 1-1 draw at home to Ipswich Town, who played for over 50 minutes with a player less after Axel Tuanzebe was sent off.
Liam Delap gave Ipswich a shock lead in the 56th minute before Ollie Watkins equalized with 20 minutes left to play. Villa had 75 percent of the ball in the game, but was unable to find a winning goal.
Beto and Carlos Alcaraz both scored as Everton continued its good form since David Moyes' arrival with a 2-1 win away to Crystal Palace, with Jean Philippe-Mateta netting for Palace in a match between two in-form sides.
Kevin Schade stabbed home a rebound after his first effort had been saved to give Brentford a fourth minute lead away to West Ham and that was enough for all three points as West Ham's poor run continues.
Brighton claimed its second win over Chelsea in a week on Friday night, with Kaoru Mitoma opening the scoring in a 3-0 victory after 27 minutes, before Yankuba Minteh doubled the lead before halftime with a wonderful individual goal, controlling a long clearance and then scoring with a right foot shot.
Minteh made it 3-0 in the 63rd minute as Brighton dominated nearly all of the match. ■
