Arsenal’s resurgence continues

London, Jan 2 (efe-epa).- Arsenal pounded West Bromwich Albion 4-0 on a snowy Saturday in the West Midlands to extend their Premier League winning streak to three.

Kieran Tierney opened the scoring with a superb goal in the 23rd minute, his second in 45 appearances with Arsenal, and budding star Bukayo Saka made it 2-0 just five minutes later.

The 19-year-old steered the ball past West Brom keeper Sam Johnstone to cap off a brilliant combination with Alexander Lacazette and Emile Smith Rowe, another element in coach Mikel Arteta’s youth movement.

Lacazette’s brace in the second half definitively closed the door on the second-from-bottom Baggies.

The Frenchman has four goals in his last three matches.

A few weeks ago, Arsenal were hovering uncomfortably close to the drop zone. After three wins on the trot, the Gunners are 11th with 23 points, a mere 6 points off the top four.

West Brom, meanwhile, have earned just a point in the four matches since Sam Allardyce replace Slaven Bilic as coach.

While Arsenal moved within striking distance of the Champions and Europa League berths, Wolverhampton’s European aspirations suffered a setback Saturday as Wolves failed to defend a 3-1 lead over Brighton & Hove Albion, who battled back to salvage a point.

Aaron Connolly put the Seagulls on the board first at the Amex with a goal in the 13th minute.

Wolves pulled level six minutes later courtesy of Romain Saiss, who headed-in a cross from Nelson Semedo. The visitors moved ahead in the 34th minute, as Brighton keeper Robert Sanchez repelled a Pedro Neto shot only to see the ball bounce off defender Dan Burn into the net.

The evening grew bleaker still for Burn in the 44th minute, when his tackle of Adama Traore in the box resulted in a penalty for Wolves.

Ruben Neves scored to put Wolverhampton on top 3-1.

But just seconds into the second half, the Seagulls got a lifeline in the form of a chance from the penalty spot. Neal Maupay drew the foul from Joao Moutinho and converted to narrow the deficit.

Brighton drew level on the 70th minute on a Lewis Dunk header.

Wolves had a chance for victory in the dying seconds, but 19-year-old US international Owen Otasowie headed a ball from Traore over the cross-bar.

Wolverhampton, who have won just once in six Premier League fixtures since top striker Raul Jimenez suffered a fractured skull in a Nov. 29 contest against Arsenal, have tumbled to 13th place on 22 points.

The Seagulls remained 17th, though they are now 2 points above the drop zone.

Tottenham Hotspur eased to a 3-0 win against Leeds United in Saturday’s early kickoff thanks to first half goals from Harry Kane and Heung-min Son.

Kane opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Ezgjan Alioski clumsily brought down Steven Bergwijn.

The England striker then turned provider when he drifted into space on the right hand side and whipped a terrific ball into the near post, where Son was on hand to divert the ball into the net.