LONDON: Martin Odegaard scored his first goal since his permanent switch to Arsenal on Saturday to further ease the pressure on Mikel Arteta as Sadio Mane helped fire Liverpool to the top of the Premier League.

Defending champions Manchester City dropped two points at home to Southampton after a 0-0 stalemate while struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers lost their fourth match in five against 10-man Brentford.

Arsenal were rock bottom of the table before last week’s fixtures but wins against Norwich City and now Burnley lifted them to the relative comfort of 12th spot before the late kick-off between Aston Villa and Everton.

Odegaard, who signed from Real Madrid last month after spending part of last season at the Emirates on loan, broke the deadlock in the 30th minute, curling home a free-kick to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at Turf Moor.

Guardiola’s fears realised as City drop more points

Arsenal breathed a sigh of relief when VAR overturned a penalty awarded to Burnley in the second half after Matej Vydra tumbled to the turf following a challenge by goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.

Liverpool forward Mane continued his eye-catching run against Crystal Palace, netting in his ninth league match in a row against the London side to send Jurgen Klopp’s men top of the table with a 3-0 win less than 72 hours after they beat AC Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Mohamed Salah’s glancing header from Konstantinos Tsimikas’ corner was kept out by goalkeeper Vicente Guaita but Mane pounced to lash home his 100th goal for Liverpool in all competitions.

Salah doubled the Reds’ lead in the 78th minute before Naby Keita sealed the win with a sweetly struck volley.

Liverpool, champions in 2020, have made an impressive start to the season, scoring 12 goals in their opening five games and conceding just once.

Pep Guardiola incurred the wrath of some City fans when he urged more people to attend the home match against Southampton than had come for the Champions League win over RB Leipzig in midweek.

The short turnaround of games and Southampton’s high-energy approach clearly concerned Guardiola and he was proved right, with City toiling to at the Etihad Stadium to drop points for the second time in five games of its title defence.

It could have been worse for them after referee Jon Moss pointed to the spot when Kyle Walker bundled into the back of Adam Armstrong in the area, showing the England international a red card.

But the incident was reviewed by VAR and Moss eventually decided to overturn both decisions.

Home fans were frustrated by battling Southampton, who kept City’s attackers at bay despite relentless pressure.

City thought they had snatched victory in the dying minutes after goalkeeper Alex McCarthy saved a Phil Foden header and Raheem Sterling tucked in the rebound but the flag was raised.

Watford beat Norwich 3-1 to condemn the newly promoted Canaries to their fifth consecutive defeat.

Watford took the lead in the 17th minute through Emmanuel Dennis but Teemu Pukki equalised before half time. Ismaila Sarr put the visitors back in front in the 63rd minute and scored again with 10 minutes to go.

In the early kick-off, Ivan Toney scored a goal and created another as 10-man Brentford beat Wolves 2-0 to maintain their impressive start to their first Premier League campaign.

The 25-year-old striker won and converted a penalty before setting up Bryan Mbeumo as the Bees prevailed at Molineux despite Shandon Baptiste’s red card in the second half.

Tottenham Hotspur host Chelsea on Sunday while Cristiano Ronaldo’s Manchester United travel to West Ham United.

On Friday night, Newcastle United and Leeds United fought out a 1-1 draw in an entertaining clash at St James’ Park and the result did neither side any favours as it stretched their winless starts to five games.

The result left Newcastle 18th on two points and piled more pressure on manager Steve Bruce while Leeds are 16th on three points after they missed a string of chances in an action-packed first half.

Leeds dominated possession and missed a string of chances after Raphinha fired them ahead in the 13th minute before Allan Saint-Maximin levelled with a fine individual effort on the stroke of halftime.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2021