London — Arsenal defeated London rivals Chelsea 1-0 for their first win in four Premier League games on Sunday as a headed goal by stand-in striker Mikel Merino boosted their faint hopes of catching up with runaway leaders Liverpool.
Merino scored in the 20th minute when he stooped to flick his looping header over Robert Sanchez in the Chelsea goal after a Martin Odegaard corner.
The win left second-placed Arsenal 12 points behind Liverpool..
The top two teams have played 29 games with a further nine rounds of fixtures to go.
Chelsea are fourth, one point ahead of Manchester City and five behind third-placed Nottingham Forest.
• Substitutes Rodrigo Muniz and Ryan Sessegnon struck late to give Fulham a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur as the Cottagers cut the gap on their rivals for European football next season.
Fulham were far superior in the first half but failed to capitalise as Timothy Castagne wasted their clearest opening when he scuffed a tame effort straight at Guglielmo Vicario.
Spurs, with seven changes from Thursday’s 3-1 win over AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League, absorbed the pressure and defended well though they offered little going forward.
But Ange Postecoglou’s double substitution at halftime, bringing on Son Heung-min and Lucas Bergvall, had the visitors much improved after the break.
Dominic Solanke twice headed wide before he spurned Spurs’ best chance, slicing over from close range after substitute James Maddison chested a parried shot into his path.
Those Spurs opportunities seemed to revive Fulham and, shortly after Willian shot just wide, Muniz produced a superb first-time finish 12 minutes from time.
Spurs’ Wilson Odobert was dispossessed almost immediately after coming on and Antonee Robinson’s cross bounced around the penalty box before Muniz swept home his fifth league goal from the bench this season.
_Reuters_