LONDON — Arsenal missed the chance to close to within four points of English Premier League leaders Liverpool after being held to a 1-1 draw at Fulham.
Chelsea came from 2-0 down to beat Tottenham 4-3 and goes second in the League standing thanks to two Cole Palmer penalties.
Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka had a late winner ruled out by a VAR review for offside as the Gunners’ four-match winning streak was halted in west London.
Raul Jimenez had fired Fulham into an early lead before William Saliba levelled thanks to another Arsenal goal from a corner.
Mikel Arteta’s men edge above Chelsea into second, six points adrift of Liverpool, who have a game in hand after their clash at Everton was postponed due to high winds, AFP reported.
Arsenal were still without influential defensive duo Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori through injury and Fulham exposed a makeshift left side of the Gunners’ backline to take the lead.
Kenny Tete’s ball in behind was pounced on by Jimenez, who drove forward and fired brilliantly across David Raya into the far corner on 11 minutes.
The opening goal came against the run of play and thereafter Fulham were forced back by an Arsenal side desperate to kickstart their bid for a first title in over 20 years.
Saka’s shot was comfortably saved by Bernd Leno in the visitors’ best effort of the first half.
Arsenal’s threat from set-pieces was already well publicised before they scored twice from corners to beat Manchester United 2-0 in midweek.
Yet, for all their preparations, Fulham was still powerless to prevent the corner kings.
Saliba stabbed home Kai Havertz’s header from close range for Arsenal’s 23rd goal from corners since the beginning of last season.
Another corner should have led to the winner but Thomas Partey nodded wide when unmarked from another pinpoint Declan Rice delivery.
Saka did head in at the back post as stoppage time approached, but Gabriel Martinelli had strayed offside before supplying the cross.
Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Leicester struck twice late on to deny Brighton in a 2-2 draw at the King Power.
Tariq Lamptey opened the scoring in spectacular fashion with a looping effort into the top corner from outside the box on 37 minutes.
Yankuba Minteh looked to have sealed the three points for the Seagulls 11 minutes from time.
But Jamie Vardy started the comeback on 86 minutes before teeing up Bobby De Cordova-Reid to snatch a point in stoppage time.
Bournemouth also scored twice in the dying minutes to deny Ipswich a first home win in the top flight for 22 years in a 2-1 win at Portman Road.
Conor Chaplin put Ipswich in front, but the Cherries move up to eighth after substitutes Enes Unal and Dango Ouattara turned the game around in the final three minutes plus stoppage time.
Ipswich remains four points adrift of safety in the bottom three.
Leicester City, meanwhile, came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League at the King Power Stadium, thanks to late goals by captain Jamie Vardy and winger Bobby De Cordova-Reid.
Brighton looked on course to win their first away Premier League game at Leicester but had to settle for just a point that moved them up to seventh place in the table, while the promoted hosts are 16th place on 14 points.
Vardy, 37, sparked a comeback when he netted in the 86th minute by brilliantly finishing a deflected pass from Jamaica international De Cordova-Reid into the bottom right corner to reduce Leicester’s deficit, Reuters reported.
De Cordova-Reid scored a goal of his own in added time to level things up to the delight of the home fans when he tapped in Vardy’s square pass, ensuring new manager Ruud van Nistelrooy remains unbeaten so far.
“If you are on the scoresheet and make an assist, then you have to say this result would not be possible without him (Vardy),” Van Nistelrooy said. “It’s also the performance of the whole team, of course, that puts him in position.
“That’s why we want these players who can make the difference for us in position… To have the awareness to play the path to Bobby, pretty good skill, that was a brilliant moment because so late in the game.
“And when you have the calmness and the composure to decide on these things, then that’s absolute top class. We’re happy that we have that. If you don’t pass it, you have to score. I think he made sure that we were going to get that goal.”
Right back Tariq Lamptey had given the visitors the lead in the 37th minute with a spectacular left-footed strike, curling the ball into the far top corner from outside the box after cutting inside following a clever pass from Pervis Estupinan.
Winger Yankuba Minteh doubled that lead in the 79th minute after Brighton had spurned a couple of chances.
Brighton forward Joao Pedro had failed to convert a cross from Lamptey in the first half, volleying wide of the left post from about 10 metres out. Striker Evan Ferguson had also squared the ball to Kaoru Mitoma but the winger curled it over the bar.
