Premier League review: Arsenal 7/4 for title success after taking narrowest of leads

Arsenal edged ahead in the Premier League title race on goal difference as both they and Manchester City won and Liverpool drew.

Tottenham also claimed a big win in the battle for the top four, taking advantage of another Aston Villa slip, while behind them Newcastle look to be on the march after a decent week of results.

At the other end, Luton struck late to beat Bournemouth and it remains the Hatters who look the most likely of the struggling sides to climb out of the bottom three.

Advantage 7/4 Arsenal in the title race

Arsenal are now top of the table, level with Liverpool on 71 points but with a superior goal difference (+51 to +42), while Manchester City are one behind in third.

With little room for error in the title race, City did their bit by winning 4-2 at Crystal Palace in Saturday's lunchtime game. 

The Eagles, still worryingly just five points above the bottom three, took an early lead through Jean-Philippe Mateta and premonitions of this being a bogey game for the Citizens, who have previous against Palace, seemed to be coming to fruition. 

However, Kevin De Bruyne's brace, a Rico Lewis strike and Erling Haaland's 19th league goal of the season, courtesy of a clever De Bruyne through ball, saw City seize all three points and momentarily go top.

Arsenal did the same, cruising to a 3-0 success at Brighton in the teatime match.

The Gunners maintained their pursuit of a first title since 2003/04 thanks to a Bukayo Saka penalty following Tariq Lamptey's foul on Gabriel Jesus, before second-half strikes from Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard.

After last season's heartache, Mikel Arteta's men appear to be getting stronger and have won 10 of their last 11 league games, the odd result out being their steely 1-1 draw against the Citizens at the Etihad on Easter Sunday.

They and the Citizens are in Champions League action on Tuesday, Arsenal at home to Bayern Munich and Pep Guardiola's side heading to the Bernabeu to take on Real Madrid. 

It is the Europa League on Thursday for Liverpool, who face Atalanta, and they will want to be more clinical in front of goal after only placing seven of their 28 shots on target in Sunday's 2-2 draw at Manchester United.

Youngster Jarell Quansah may be cast as the villain after Bruno Fernandes pounced on his loose pass at Old Trafford. However, his attacking colleagues hardly helped him, with the Reds' equaliser coming courtesy of Mohamed Salah's late penalty.

Palace are next up at home in the league for Jurgen Klopp's side, who are 9/4 to take the title, with Arsenal 7/4, but it is champions City who lead the market at 6/4.

Villa stutter again as Spurs cut to 4/11 for top four

Ollie Watkins slammed Aston Villa for lacking 'big-team mentality' after his 80th minute equaliser secured a 3-3 home draw against former club Brentford on Saturday.

The Bees were poor in the early stages and trailed 2-0 heading towards the hour mark, but then fired in three goals between the 59th and 68th minutes and the Villans have now won just one of their last five in the league.

Unai Emery's side sit fifth on the same points tally as fourth-placed Tottenham, but Spurs have a game in hand and 9/4 Villa's top-four hopes were handed a further blow as their 4/11 rivals battled past Nottingham Forest 3-1.

The Villans now turn their attention to Thursday's Europa Conference League quarter-final against Lille and with them almost certain to finish in the European places, winning that tournament at 7/4 and finishing fifth - which could be good enough for a Champions League place - would still be a fabulous season.

Several teams behind them would love to be in that position and United's draw means they remain sixth. West Ham are seventh on 48 points after beating Wolves in a VAR-heavy 2-1 victory at Molineux.

The Hammers are 20/1 to finish in the top six, while Newcastle, after a week in which they picked up seven points from a possible nine, latterly beating Fulham, are 2/1. 

The Magpies are on 47 points but have played a game less than West Ham, while Chelsea are ninth on 44 points with two games in hand on their London rivals.

Mauricio Pochettino's men were characteristically lethargic in Sunday's 2-2 draw at Sheffield United, eventually conceding a late Oli McBurnie equaliser.

With Arsenal, Villa, Tottenham and West Ham still to play, they needed to win at Bramall Lane and at 9/2, could fall short in their bid for a top-six finish.

Luton 5/4 for survival after late magic from Morris

Luton's enthusiasm has seen them emerge as this season's favourites for the neutrals and they are 5/4 for survival after beating Bournemouth 2-1 on Saturday.

The Cherries took the lead through Marcus Tavernier's crisp strike but Jordan Clark levelled with 17 minutes left and Carlton Morris guided home the winner in stoppage time, shrugging off his marker to connect with Cauley Woodrow's cross.

After ending their 10-game winless run, Rob Edwards' side now sit level with Forest on 25 points and face City next. However, Everton's trip to Kenilworth Road on 3rd May could be the decisive game of their season.

The Toffees eased their relegation fears with a 1-0 victory over Burnley, Dominic Calvert-Lewin seizing on an error by Clarets' goalkeeper Arijanet Muric to net his second goal in as many games.

He had failed to score in 23 matches before his successful penalty at Newcastle and then helped his team end their win drought on Saturday. 

Saturday's success was Everton's first in 14 top-flight attempts, which also came against Burnley, back in December. 

They are 5/4 Double Chance to extend their unbeaten run of games to three at Chelsea on Sunday.