LONDON – Arsenal suffered another painful Premier League defeat as Swansea City capitalised on some glaring errors to win 3-1 at the Liberty Stadium on Tuesday, boosting their survival hopes and denting the visitors’ top-four chances.
Arsenal took the lead through Nacho Monreal after 33 minutes, but their advantage lasted just seconds as Mesut Ozil gave the ball away and Sam Clucas finished for the home side.
Worse was to come for Arsenal in the second half as goalkeeper Petr Cech sliced an attempted clearance, leaving Jordan Ayew to fire home after 61 minutes, before Clucas finished right-footed to grab his second of the night with four minutes remaining.
The defeat leaves Arsenal in sixth place, eight points adrift of Liverpool in fourth, while Swansea, who have been rejuvenated by new manager Carlos Carvalhal, climbed out of the bottom three, moving above Stoke City on goal difference.
* Liverpool bounced back from two straight losses with a comfortable 3-0 win at Huddersfield Town to open up a five-point gap over their rivals for a top-four Premier League finish.
German midfielder Emre Can fired the visitors ahead in the 26th minute with a fine first-time effort from 25 metres, which took a slight deflection to beat goalkeeper Jonas Lossl.
Huddersfield went close through Chris Loewe’s free kick, but Liverpool doubled their lead on the stroke of halftime when Roberto Firmino fired shot past Lossl from a tight angle.
Can 🔥
Firmino 💥
Salah ☄
Read tonight's full match report: https://t.co/rsf1mwE5tR pic.twitter.com/flVxzb6zQY
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 30, 2018
Mohamed Salah made it 3-0 with a 78th-minute penalty after Philip Billing pulled down Can to leave Huddersfield in 14th place on 24 points, just one point above the relegation zone.
* Injury-plagued West Ham United fought back to salvage a 1-1 home draw against Crystal Palace in a hard-fought Premier League encounter at the London Stadium.
With 10 first-team players missing, including influential pair Marko Arnautovic and Manuel Lanzini, the situation looked grim for West Ham boss David Moyes when Palace took the lead through Belgian striker Christian Benteke in the 23rd minute.
📈 A big result for @SwansOfficial... #SWAARS #PL pic.twitter.com/hYho13PaJi
— Premier League (@premierleague) January 30, 2018
Yet the hosts responded and were rewarded when referee Neil Swarbrick awarded them a penalty for a foul by former Hammers defender James Tomkins, with West Ham captain Mark Noble calmly dispatching the spot kick two minutes before halftime.
The draw means West Ham go above Watford into 10th place, while Palace remain a point back in 12th.