It was the news all Manchester City fans had been hoping for. After months of speculation about his future, their manager Pep Guardiola has decided to extend his stay with the club for at least another year, taking him to summer 2026. The 53-year-old Spaniard joined City in 2016 and has won 18 trophies so far, including six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and a Champions League. The decision will come as a welcome relief to City fans and the club's hierarchy at a time when they are coming head on with a number of challenges both on the pitch and off it.

They are now nine adrift of top spot having started the weekend seven back, while Arsenal are without a win in their past five games in all competitions. The visitors opened the scoring when Gabriel Martinelli slammed the ball past Blues keeper Robert Sanchez at his near post after collecting a back-post cross from the returning Martin Odegaard. Chelsea's leveller was deserved. Neto ran on to an Enzo Fernandez pass before cutting inside and striking a powerful low left-footed shot past David Raya's dive. England winger Bukayo Saka limped off late on with an injury as both sides strived to create a winning chance. Arsenal came closest but Leandro Trossard was unable to divert William Saliba's cross into the net from six yards, a second before referee Michael Oliver blew for full-time. Chelsea have lost once in their past 10 matches and played like a team filled with confidence. Cole Palmer set the tone when his long-range strike was tipped over by Raya before Malo Gusto headed a good chance over the bar from close range. Martinelli also had a good chance in the first half before Kai Havertz had a strike ruled out for offside.

A lot has changed around Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes since he took it upon himself to apologise directly to Erik ten Hag in the wake of his sacking and accept his share of the blame. He has scored four goals, created two more and had a claim on another that was given as an own goal in Sunday's 3-0 win over Leicester at Old Trafford. It is an excellent return for four games and in marked contrast to the zero goals and four assists – two of which came against League One Barnsley – in the 12 games Ten Hag was in charge for this campaign. When Fernandes spoke of his regret at Ten Hag’s exit, he added that "people will say we wanted him to be sacked".

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says maybe another team deserves to win the Premier League after their sustained period of success. The Blues have won six of the past seven Premier League titles, including four in a row, but have fallen five points behind leaders Liverpool following a 2-1 defeat by Brighton. Guardiola has now lost four successive matches (excluding shootouts) for the first time in his 17-year managerial career, and this is City's first four-game losing run for 18 years, since Stuart Pearce was manager. In recent weeks, they have lost to Bournemouth and Brighton in the league, Tottenham in the Carabao Cup, and Sporting in the Champions League.

Just before the game at Anfield kicked off, the reigning champions were beaten 2-1 by Brighton. That meant leaders Liverpool knew victory would ensure they opened up a decent gap to City heading into the international break. Darwin Nunez opened the scoring in the 20th minute, striding on to a loose ball after Mohamed Salah went down in a tangle with Leon Bailey following a brilliant counter-attack before firing beyond Emi Martinez. Nunez really should have had a second not long after when he broke away following another quick break, but this time he drove his shot over. It could have proved costly but for two fantastic saves by Caoimhin Kelleher to first deny Amadou Onana and then Diego Carlos before the interval. Morgan Rogers then missed another big chance for Villa seconds after the restart when he clipped a shot wide when aiming for the far corner. Chances after that were few in a tense second half, although Villa boss Unai Emery felt his side should have had a penalty for a shirt pull by Conor Bradley - an early replacement for the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold - on Pau Torres, but nothing was given after a review by the video assistant referee (VAR). But Salah made sure of a big three points with six minutes left when he raced through and squeezed a shot home at the near post, scoring for a fourth successive league game. The win was Liverpool's ninth in 11 Premier League games - 15th in 17 overall since Arne Slot took charge in the summer - while Aston Villa are eighth.