Arsenal, City Locked At 21 After Villa Stun

Aston Villa handed Manchester City its first league loss of the season Saturday, beating Pep Guardiola's side 2-1 at Villa Park while Arsenal drew level at the top of the table with a 2-0 win over Everton at the Emirates Stadium. Both clubs now sit on 21 points after eight matches, separated only by goal difference. City opened the scoring in the sixth minute when Marc Guehi's heavy touch let John McGinn steal possession and set up Nicolas Jackson, who finished past Gianluigi Donnarumma. Erling Haaland headed in Iliman Ndiaye's clipped free-kick shortly after halftime to equalize, but Jackson struck again in the 60th minute, slotting home Ibrahim Mbaye's cutback from the right. The shot slipped under Donnarumma's arm and gave Villa its third straight league win over City and its first home league victory of this season, lifting Unai Emery's side to sixth with 11 points.

At the Emirates, Arsenal took the lead in the seventh minute after a Martin Odegaard corner caused confusion in Everton's area. England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford stopped the first effort off a near-post flick-on but could not hold it, and Ezri Konsa bundled the loose ball in from a yard out. It was Konsa's first goal for the club and Arsenal's first set-piece goal since May, ending a 13-match run across all competitions without one. The second goal arrived in the 68th minute on Ben White's 200th appearance for Arsenal, with a cross to the far post that Gabriel headed in during his own 200th Premier League match. "We are champions and to be champions you've got to win games consistently," Konsa said. "This is our home, and we want to win as many games here as possible." Everton remain ninth.

City, meanwhile, is awaiting an appeal ruling after an independent commission found the club committed 114 breaches of Premier League financial rules. The club has denied wrongdoing. "It's just the beginning; we're trying to work game by game," Jackson told TNT Sports after the match.

In other results, Tottenham Hotspur beat Chelsea 2-0 at Stamford Bridge for its second league win there in 36 years. Mike Penders, making his first league start, punched a corner into his own net in the 77th minute. Cole Palmer received a second yellow card three minutes later for a late challenge on Conor Gallagher, and Mathys Tel sealed the scoreline in the 87th minute with a low finish from the left. "It's very special, because we came here a lot of times and didn't get a win," Tel said. Spurs climbed to 12th. Fulham beat Coventry City 1-0 on an 80th-minute Oscar Bobb curler into the far corner; Fulham sit 13th, Coventry 19th.