LONDON — Arsene Wenger said that Arsenal had enjoyed a "perfect week" after it won 2-0 at Aston Villa Sunday to supplant Manchester City at the Premier League summit.
Arsenal reached the Champions League last 16 Wednesday by winning 3-0 at Olympiakos, Olivier Giroud scoring all three goals, and the Frenchman set the London side on their way at Villa Park with an early penalty.
Aaron Ramsey doubled Arsenal's lead before half-time, starting and finishing a swift counter-attack, as Wenger's men leapfrogged both City and former leader Leicester City, which hosts champion Chelsea Monday.
"It was a perfect week for us," Wenger told the BBC. "We spent a lot of energy away in the Champions League on Wednesday, but found the resources to win again here today (Sunday), in another away match.
"This season is so unpredictable that you just focus on yourself and try to play well in the next game. You know if you are consistent then you have a chance. This is an opportunity for us to find that consistency."
Arsenal's fans' happiness at seeing their side go top was enhanced hours later when arch-rival Tottenham Hotspur's 14-game unbeaten run was ended by a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Newcastle United.
Meanwhile, substitute Divock Origi scored a 96th-minute equalizer as Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool drew 2-2 at home to West Bromwich Albion.
At Villa Park, Giroud sent Brad Guzan the wrong way from the penalty spot in the eighth minute after Alan Hutton was penalised for holding back Theo Walcott, which gave the France striker his 50th Arsenal league goal.
Ramsey made it 2-0 seven minutes before half-time, tackling Idrissa Gueye in midfield and sparking a move that saw the ball pass from Walcott to Mesut Ozil, who squared the ball for the Welshman to roll home.
In keeping Villa at bay, Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech equaled former England international David James's Premier League record of 169 clean sheets.
Villa manager Remi Garde had been hoping to get one over his former mentor Wenger, who signed him as a player at Arsenal, but his team remains eight points adrift of safety at the foot of the table.
Arsenal went a point clear of City and Leicester and three points above fourth-place Manchester United, which lost 2-1 at Bournemouth Saturday.
Tottenham would have moved above United had it beaten Newcastle, but it remains fifth, three points below the Champions League berths, after late goals from substitutes Aleksandar Mitrovic and Ayoze Perez took Steve McClaren's side out of the relegation zone at Norwich City's expense.
Eric Dier's glancing header from Christian Eriksen's corner gave Spurs a 39th-minute lead, but Mitrovic poked home an equalizer two minutes after coming on as a substitute in the 72nd minute before Perez squeezed a winner beneath Hugo Lloris in the third minute of added time.
Newcastle had started to turn a corner by beating Liverpool last weekend and Klopp's men needed a last-gasp intervention from Origi to avoid a second consecutive defeat against West Brom.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson marked his first start since August with a 21st-minute opener, but Craig Dawson punished an error by goalkeeper Simon Mignolet to equalize on the half hour before Jonas Olsson headed the visitors in front in the 73rd minute from Chris Brunt's corner.
Liverpool center-back Dejan Lovren had to be stretchered off with a nasty knee injury, but the eight minutes of injury time that ensued enabled Origi to rescue the host with a deflected equalizer.
Liverpool rises one place to ninth, five points off the top four, with Tony Pulis's West Brom four points further back in 13th.
AC Milan drops point
AC Milan was held to a frustrating 1-1 draw at home to bottom side Verona in Serie A Sunday, as the Rossoneri dropped points against a team in the relegation zone for the second week running.
Milan grabbed a 52nd-minute lead at the San Siro through Colombia striker Carlos Bacca but Verona, which is still without a win this season, leveled with a Luca Toni penalty that followed the dismissal of Dutch midfielder Nigel de Jong just five minutes later.
Following last week's goalless draw at Carpi, Sinisa Mihajlovic's side has won just one of their last five matches and lie in seventh place, 11 points adrift of city rivals and leaders Inter Milan.
Empoli continued its climb up the table with a 3-0 victory at home to second-from-bottom Carpi as Massimo Maccarone scored twice either side of Riccardo Saponara's goal to send the hosts to a third straight win.
Meanwhile, Slovenian midfielder Valter Birsa's 76th-minute strike steered Chievo to a 1-0 win over Atalanta.
Mauro Icardi hit back at his critics with two goals as Inter Milan moved provisionally four points clear in the Serie A by comfortably beating Udinese 4-0 Saturday.
Hernandez scores hat trick
Mexico striker Javier Hernandez claimed only the second hat trick of his career Saturday to extend his scoring run to 15 goals in Bayer Leverkusen’s last 12 games.
“Chicharito” needed just 13 second-half minutes to score his three goals in Leverkusen’s 5-0 victory over Borussia Moechengladbach in the German league as ex-Germany striker Stefan Kiessling also scored either side of half-time.
Ex-Manchester United and Real Madrid star Hernandez has now scored ten league goals for a total of 17 in all competitions for Leverkusen this season.
It extends Hernandez’s remarkable run of 15 in the last 12 games since the end of October.
Hernandez’s goals at the BayArena sealed Leverkusen’s valuable victory which lifts it up to sixth as it claimed only its second win in its last nine games. — Agencies
