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Arsenal routs Leeds to open seven point lead in Premier League and Chelsea makes comeback

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Arsenal powered seven points clear at the top of the Premier League after beating Leeds 4-0 on Saturday.

Mikel Arteta’s team ended a three-game winless run in style at Elland Road and strengthened its title charge.

Martin Zubimendi, Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus were all on target, and Leeds goalkeeper Karl Darlow added an own goal.

“We really wanted to show how much we wanted it,” Arteta said.

Manchester City and Aston Villa can trim Arsenal’s lead back to four points on Sunday.

Chelsea came back from two goals down at home to beat West Ham 3-2 and climb up to fourth, with Enzo Fernandez hitting the winner in the second minute of added time.

Everton left it even later to draw at Brighton 1-1, Beto scoring in the 97th.

Last-placed Wolverhampton lost for the 18th time this season, 2-0 at home to Bournemouth.

Defending champion Liverpool was hosting Newcastle in the late kickoff.

Arsenal has Leeds’ number

Having beaten Leeds 5-0 in August, Arsenal enjoyed another romp against Daniel Farke’s team.

Six points and nine goals could go a long way to helping Arsenal’s title bid, which was wobbling in recent weeks.

“It’s very difficult to (win 4-0 at Leeds), let’s see who is the next team that does it, but we did it in a moment when we needed it,” Arteta said.

Against an in-form Leeds that had lost just one of its last 11 in all competitions, the trip to Elland Road was a potential banana skin for the league leader. Especially when forward Bukayo Saka was injured in the warmup and had to be withdrawn shortly before kickoff.

But in his absence Arsenal totally dominated, with Zubimendi heading the visitor in front after 27 minutes and Darlow punching Noni Madueke’s corner into his own net before halftime.

Gyokeres scored for the fourth time in six games in the second half and substitute Gabriel Jesus spun and fired low into the bottom corner late on.

Enzo delivers for Chelsea

Chelsea trailed 2-0 at halftime to a West Ham fighting for survival, and the decision by coach Liam Rosenior to make seven changes to his lineup looked like a costly one.

But after going behind at Stamford Bridge to goals from Jarred Bowen and Crysencio Summerville, Rosenior acted decisively — making three halftime substitutions — and it paid off.

Joao Pedro and Marc Cucurella came off the bench and scored to level the game by the 70th. After West Ham’s Jean-Clair Todibo missed in front of the goal, Chelsea took all three points when Fernandez swept in the winner from inside the box.

The dramatic finish sparked a mass confrontation between the players and Todibo was sent off for violent conduct.

The result left West Ham five points from safety.

Everton seals late draw

For the second time this week Everton fought back to salvage a point. After Monday’s 1-1 draw with Leeds, the Merseyside club left it late to equalize at Brighton, which led through Pascal Gross.

Beto went in as a substitute only in the 89th and produced the crucial goal deep in added time.

It’s back-to-back losses for Wolves after a mini resurgence in recent weeks.

Goals from Junior Kroupi and Alex Scott secured victory for Bournemouth at Molineux Stadium.

Wolves have long looked destined for relegation but had shown signs of rallying under new coach Rob Edwards after five games without defeat. Successive losses to Man City and Bournemouth, however, leave the team 17 points adrift of safety, having played a game more than its rivals.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

By JAMES ROBSON
AP Soccer Writer