Leicester City’s unlikely title bid received a welcome boost Saturday — without the Foxes even kicking a ball.
Second place Tottenham Hotspur was held to a 1-1 draw by Liverpool at Anfield, a result that could see Leicester stretch its lead to seven points with victory over Southampton Sunday.
Philippe Coutinho had given Liverpool the lead five minutes into the second half.
The Brazilian played a one-two with Daniel Sturridge on the edge of the penalty area, before latching onto the return pass and slotting the ball low past Hugo Lloris in the Tottenham goal.
Liverpool’s lead lasted just over 10 minutes, however, as Harry Kane hauled Spurs level with a brilliant turn and shot — his 22nd Premier League goal of the season.
Christian Eriksen did well to keep the ball alive on the byline, before hooking it into Kane who rolled Dejan Lovren with ease and drilled into the bottom corner.
There were chances for both sides to snatch all three points late on but a brilliant save from Simon Mignolet denied Eriksen’s long-range effort, before Coutinho shot inches wide at the other end.
Earlier in the day, Arsenal kept its faint title hopes alive with a comfortable 4-0 win at home to Watford.
Alexis Sanchez opened the scoring early on, before goals from teenager Alex Iwobi, Hector Bellerin and Theo Walcott sealed the three points.
Before the game, Wenger was unhappy with Mesut Ozil’s comments that Arsenal had “messed up” its season, including a defeat to Watford just two weeks earlier that saw the Gunners eliminated from the FA Cup.
Tottenham’s draw means Arsenal could close the gap on its North London rival to just one point with victory over West Bromwich Albion in its game in hand.
In Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off, Pato scored his first goal for Chelsea from the penalty spot as Guus Hiddink’s men beat rock-bottom Aston Villa 4-0.
A first half goal from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and a second half brace from former Barcelona man Pedro ensured Chelsea has now gone 15 league games unbeaten.
Manchester City welcomed Kevin De Bruyne back from injury as they strolled to a 4-0 victory away at Bournemouth on the south coast to ease the pressure on departing manager Manuel Pellegrini.
A 12th-minute goal from the returning Belgian was sandwiched by strikes from Fernando and Sergio Aguero to put the visitors 3-0 up inside 20 minutes.
Aleksandar Kolarov added gloss to the scoreline by firing home a spectacular fourth in stoppage time.
Elsewhere, Rafael Benitez is still searching for his first win as Newcastle United manager after his side lost 3-2 away at Norwich City.
Newcastle had clawed themselves back to from 2-0 down to draw level thanks to an Aleksandar Mitrovic brace, but were undone in the dying seconds by Martin Olsson’s strike.
The defeat leaves Benitez and co. six points adrift in the relegation zone with just seven games to play.
Dimitri Payet continued to showcase his immaculate free-kick form with another curling effort in a 2-2 home draw against Crystal Palace.
Relegation-threatened Sunderland played out a 0-0 draw with West Bromwich Albion, while Swansea came from two goals down to earn a point away at Stoke.