Arsenal join Man City at summit after Villa end leaders’ perfect start

Arsenal joined Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table after a 2-0 victory over Everton in torrential rain at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, capitalising on City’s first defeat of the season earlier in the day. City had left the door open when they fell to a 2-1 loss at Aston Villa, where Nicolas Jackson struck twice to end the visitors’ perfect start to the league campaign. Fulham beat Coventry City 1-0 for their second league victory of the season. With the leaders beaten in Birmingham, Arsenal seized their chance to erase the three-point gap as goals from Ezri Konsa and Gabriel secured a comfortable win over Everton in soaking north London conditions. The result moved Mikel Arteta’s side level on 21 points with City in what is already shaping into a closely fought title race after eight games, but one played under a cloud amid City’s off-field financial case. STRONG START Arsenal made their strong start count when Martin Odegaard’s corner caused chaos in the Everton box. England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford kept out the initial danger after the ball was flicked on at the near post, but with Everton unable to clear, Konsa bundled home his first goal for the club from a yard out in the seventh minute. The set-piece goal was Arsenal’s first since May, ending a run of 13 games across all competitions without one. “I’ve come to this stadium for many seasons, I know how tough it is to play against us,” Konsa said. “It’s not surprising to me. “We are champions and to be champions you’ve got to win games consistently. This is our home and we want to win as many games here as possible.” Arsenal’s two milestone men combined to give the Gunners a two-goal cushion in the 68th minute, with Ben White marking his 200th appearance for the club by clipping a cross to the far post, where Gabriel headed home on his 200th Premier League appearance. Everton are ninth in the table. JACKSON DOUBLE At Villa Park, Unai Emery’s team climbed to sixth on 11 points with their first home league victory this season and third successive league win over City, who are playing under the shadow of an independent commission’s findings that they committed 114 breaches of Premier League financial rules. City have always denied any wrongdoing, and have appealed. Jackson took advantage of two City blunders, opening the scoring in the sixth minute when defender Marc Guehi’s heavy touch allowed Villa captain John McGinn to pounce and feed the striker, who slotted the ball into the bottom corner. Erling Haaland equalised soon after the break when he headed home Iliman Ndiaye’s clipped cross from a free kick. But Jackson struck the winner on the hour when Ibrahim Mbaye surged down the right before cutting the ball back for his Senegal international teammate, whose shot sneaked under the diving body of keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. “It was incredible, we got the win which is the most important thing. Man City are a strong team, the league leaders,” Jackson told TNT Sports. “It’s just the beginning, we’re trying to work game by game.” At Coventry, Fulham appeared ready to substitute Oscar Bobb before the winger produced a moment of quality in the 80th minute, collecting the ball on the right, driving into the box past Jack Rudoni and curling a superb finish into the far corner. Fulham are 12th in the table, while Coventry are 19th. Chelsea host Tottenham Hotspur in Saturday’s late game.