Three talking points from the Premier League

Liverpool and Arsenal comfortably saw off Brentford and Burnley at home, respectively, to close on the leaders. But it was a poor weekend for Newcastle as the injury-ravaged Magpies were beaten 2-0 by lowly Bournemouth.

Not for the first time in Mauricio Pochettino's short reign as Chelsea boss, the Blues were not found wanting when faced with the cream of the Premier League crop.

Arsenal and Liverpool were lucky to escape with a point from Stamford Bridge earlier in the season and Chelsea were well worthy of at least a share of the spoils against Pep Guardiola's men.

Chelsea also ended Tottenham's unbeaten start to the campaign with a 4-1 away win on Monday night. Yet, they are still looking up at those sides from 10th in the table.

Pochettino's men are 12 points adrift of City and 10 off even the top four, as they have been far less impressive when expected to blow the opposition away.

Chelsea have proven they can mix it with the best, the task for Pochettino is now to find the solution to break down deep-lying defences and move swiftly up the table.

Liverpool's return to challenging for the title is being built around making Anfield a fortress to be feared once more. Jurgen Klopp's men have won all nine games at home this season in all competitions, scoring 27 goals in the process.

Mohamed Salah has been central to that success as the Egyptian became the first Liverpool player ever to score in his first six home league games of a season.

Salah's double in a 3-0 win over Brentford took his tally in English football to 200. He also became just the third player in Premier League history to either score or assist in 15 consecutive home games.

"Just an exceptional player," said Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp. "The composure for the