Wins for Chelsea, Arsenal and Brighton saw them close the gap on Premier League leader Liverpool to six points on Saturday.
Third-place Chelsea beat Leicester 2-1 in the early kickoff and Arsenal, in fourth, won 3-0 against Nottingham Forest. Fifth-place Brighton won 2-1 at Bournemouth to maintain its outstanding start to the season under new coach Fabian Hurzeler.
Liverpool doesn’t play until Sunday when it travels to last-place Southampton and its rivals took the chance to keep the pressure on Arne Slot's team.
Four-time defending champion Manchester City played Tottenham in the late kickoff Saturday and had the opportunity to move to within two points of Liverpool.
Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernandez put Chelsea on course for victory against Leicester at King Power Stadium, with Jordan Ayew scoring for the home team with a second-half stoppage-time penalty.
Jackson showed good close control in the box before poking Chelsea in front with a clever finish in the 15th minute. It was the Senegal striker's seventh goal in 13 appearances this season.
Fernandez headed in Chelsea's second in the 75th after Jackson's header was saved by goalkeeper Mads Hermansen. Ayew's penalty came too late for Leicester to mount a fightback.
Arteta landmark
Mikel Arteta celebrated his 250th game in charge of Arsenal in style with victory against Forest.
It was his 147th win in all competitions — more than any Arsenal manager after the same number of games. Club great Arsene Wenger won 136 of his first 250 games.
Bukayo Saka put Arsenal ahead in the 15th at the Emirates Stadium and Thomas Partey added a second seven minutes into the second half. The 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri scored his first Premier League goal for the club in the 86th.
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
James Robson, The Associated Press
