Premier League leaders Arsenal needed two own goals, the second deep in stoppage time, to scrape a 2-1 home win over bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers and open a five-point gap, while earlier on Saturday, Mohamed Salah put aside a tumultuous week to help Liverpool beat Brighton and Hove Albion 2-0.

The table will show that Wolves are remaining at the bottom with just two points from their first 16 games; they played much better than their position suggests.

They stunned Arsenal by equalising in the 90th minute when Tolu Arokodare scored with a header.

After defeat by Aston Villa last weekend, failure to beat Wolves at home would have blown the title race wide open, but when Bukayo Saka swung in a cross towards substitute Gabriel Jesus in the fourth minute of stoppage time, it flew in off the head of the unfortunate Yerson Mosquera.

The final whistle was met with cheers and huge relief, with Arsenal’s players realising just how close they had come to handing away their advantage to Manchester City, who are in action at Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Arsenal have 36 points from 16 games, with City on 31 points from 15 games. Aston Villa, who face third-from-bottom West Ham United on Sunday, have 30 points from 15 games.

Chelsea climbed to fourth place with 28 points after returning to winning form with a 2-0 home victory over Everton, featuring fit-again Cole Palmer, who scored his first goal since September.

Fulham eased away from the relegation zone with a 3-2 victory at Burnley, their first win at Turf Moor in 35 attempts dating back to 1951.

Burnley’s defeat means they have lost seven successive top-flight games for the first time since 1895.

Salah’s outburst after being an unused substitute against Leeds United and his exclusion from Liverpool’s squad for the midweek trip to Inter Milan led to days of speculation that the Egyptian’s glittering career was coming to a bitter end.

But it was all smiles again as he returned to the squad and set up the second of Hugo Ekitike’s goals after coming off the bench midway through the first half.

The assist was his 277th goal involvement for Liverpool in the Premier League, passing the record for a single club he had shared with Wayne Rooney’s 276 for Manchester United.

“He was back in the squad again, and we needed him because he was the first substitution I made,” manager Arne Slot said.

“He assisted for the 2-0 for the corner kick, which is also very nice for us because we have been on the wrong side of the set-piece battle so many times this season.”

Champions Liverpool moved up to sixth with 26 points, while Brighton is ninth on 23.

Chelsea had gone four games without a win in all competitions, with manager Enzo Maresca saying the last 48 hours had been his worst since arriving at Stamford Bridge.

But Palmer, who has been struggling with a groin injury, opened the scoring after 21 minutes before Malo Gusto made it 2-0 just before halftime.