Villa Win Leaves Arsenal, City Tied At 21

Manchester City's grip on the Premier League lead loosened on Saturday, leaving the club level with Arsenal at 21 points after eight games. City fell 2-1 at Aston Villa, their first loss of the season, while Arsenal beat Everton 2-0 in heavy rain at the Emirates Stadium to erase a three-point gap.

Arsenal moved first in north London. A Martin Odegaard corner caused trouble in the Everton box in the seventh minute, and though Jordan Pickford stopped the initial effort after a near-post flick-on, the ball was not cleared. Ezri Konsa bundled it in from a yard out for his first Arsenal goal, the club's first set-piece goal since May and its first in 13 matches across all competitions. "We are champions and to be champions you've got to win games consistently," Konsa said. "This is our home, and we want to win as many games here as possible." The second Arsenal goal arrived in the 68th minute, when Ben White, playing his 200th game for the club, crossed to the far post and Gabriel headed in on his 200th Premier League appearance. Everton sit ninth.

At Villa Park, Unai Emery's side climbed to sixth with 11 points. Nicolas Jackson put Villa ahead in the sixth minute after Marc Guehi's heavy touch let captain John McGinn set him up. Erling Haaland levelled after halftime, heading in Iliman Ndiaye's free-kick delivery. Jackson restored Villa's lead on the hour, finishing from Ibrahim Mbaye's cutback with a shot that went under goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. The result marked Villa's third straight league win over City and its first home league victory of the season. "It's just the beginning; we're trying to work game by game," Jackson told TNT Sports.

City's defeat arrives while the club awaits the outcome of an appeal after an independent commission found it committed 114 breaches of Premier League financial rules. The club has always denied wrongdoing.

Tottenham Hotspur beat fourth-placed Chelsea 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, only its second league win there in 36 years. Chelsea goalkeeper Mike Penders, making his first league start, punched a corner into his own net in the 77th minute. Cole Palmer drew a second yellow card in the 80th minute for a late challenge on Conor Gallagher, and Mathys Tel finished a run down the left in the 87th minute. "It's very special, because we came here a lot of times and didn't get a win," Tel said. Spurs rose to 12th.

Fulham defeated Coventry City 1-0 when Oscar Bobb curled a finish into the far corner in the 80th minute, moments before Fulham prepared to substitute him. Fulham sit 13th; Coventry are 19th.