Manchester City suffer first league defeat since December, Arsenal fall to defeat and Liverpool come out on top

Bournemouth and Manchester City at the Vitality Stadium © Gallo Images

Manchester City suffered their first Premier League defeat since December as Bournemouth stunned the champions, Arsenal thrashed Newcastle and Liverpool finished top on Saturday.

City are unbeaten in their previous 32 league matches, dating back to defeat at Aston Villa last year.

But Pep Guardiola’s second-place side saw the run end unexpectedly with a 2-1 defeat on the south coast of England.

The Cherries had never beaten City in their 21 previous meetings, losing 19 of those matches, but Andoni Iraola’s side staged a huge upset, preventing the champions from claiming a fifth title in a row.

Bournemouth recently dented Arsenal’s title hopes with a 2-0 win at the Vitality Stadium and they also hurt City.

Guardiola said City faced an injury “emergency” after they suffered fitness issues following their League Cup defeat to Tottenham on Wednesday.

But Manuel Akanji, Kyle Walker and Josko Guardiol started against Bournemouth due to injury doubts, while Kevin De Bruyne, Savigno and Jeremy Doku were fit enough to be named among the substitutes.

Tired or not, City were shocked in the ninth minute when Bournemouth striker Antoine Semenyo headed Milos Kerkez’s cross past Ederson from inside the box.

Guardiola’s men were unable to respond and Evanilson doubled Bournemouth’s lead in the 64th minute, scoring from Kerkez’s cross.

Guardiola’s header reduced the deficit in the 82nd minute, but it was too late to save City from a second defeat in four days.

Newcastle dealt a huge blow to fourth-place Arsenal’s ambitions with a 1-0 win at St James’ Park.

Alexander Isak scored in the 12th minute, heading home Anthony Gordon’s precise cross.

Injury-stricken Arsenal struggled to get out of first gear and only had one shot on target all game.

Mikel Arteta’s side, runners-up to City for the last two years, have picked up just one point from their last three games as their bid for a first title since 2004 was derailed by a second league defeat this season.

“We weren’t our best today. It’s all about how you react to it. We’re not going to find the right words or answers to describe how we feel,” said Arteta, whose side are seven points off top spot.

LATEST POWER RESTORATION IN LIVERPOOL

Liverpool faced a surprise loss at Anfield before regrouping to take advantage of their opponents’ misfortunes to beat Brighton 2-1.

Ferdi Kadioglu gave Brighton the lead in the 14th minute with a fierce shot that went wide of the post after Danny Welbeck converted Kaoru Mitoma’s cross.

But Liverpool beat Brighton in the last 16 of the League Cup in midweek and they repeated the feat thanks to a late resurgence.

Cody Gakpo equalized in the 70th minute with a cross into the net.

Two minutes later, Mohamed Salah gave Liverpool the lead, the Egyptian striker firing a fine finish into the top corner for his ninth goal of the season.

In Arne Slott’s first season in charge, Liverpool are two points clear of City after their eighth win in 10 league games.

Nottingham Forest moved up to third after beating 10-man West Ham 3-0 to make it three wins in a row in the top flight for the first time since 1999.

Chris Wood scored his eighth goal in 10 league matches as the New Zealand striker headed home in the 27th minute.

West Ham sent off Edson Alvarez in first-half stoppage time due to two bookings.

Callum Hudson-Odoi struck in the 65th minute and Ola Aina sealed the points 12 minutes from time at the City Ground.

Jordan Ayew’s stoppage-time equalizer denied Ipswich their first top-flight win since 2002 as Leicester overturned a 1-1 draw at Portman Road.

Leif Davies’ volley in the 55th minute gave Ipswich the lead, but the hosts had Kalvin Phillips sent off in the 77th minute.

Ayew equalized with seconds left to leave third-bottom Ipswich without a win after 10 games.

Second-placed Southampton claimed their first league win of the season as Adam Armstrong’s 85th-minute strike sealed a 1-0 win over Everton.