LONDON: Arsene Wenger spent £46m in the summer on attack. Maybe he should have spent heavily on helping embattled Per Mertesacker in defence.

Danny Welbeck (£16m) set up Alexis Sanchez (£30m) to put Arsenal ahead at Swansea. But Jefferson Montero ripped apart their defence repeatedly and goals from Gylfi Sigurdsson and Bafetimbi Gomis turned the game around and Swans’ 2-1 win lifted them above the Gunners and into fifth place.

Gomis had been on the pitch as a substitute only 90sec when he scored.

This was the second game in succession that Arsenal had failed to win after taking the lead. In midweek they conceded a three-goal lead against Anderlecht in the Champions League.

Stoke lost two defenders early on to injury at Tottenham but still reorganised effectively to win 2-1 on goals from Bojan Krkic and Jonathan Walters.

Tottenham had scored twice late in the game to beat Aston Villa the previous week and gained hope when Nacer Chadli fired home a volley with 13 minutes to play.

Spurs had the wind taken out of their sails, however, when Kyle Naughton was sent off with six minutes to play and the visitors held on for their first victory in four matches.

backheel flick provided ex-Tenerife forward Ayoze Perez with his third goal in three successive games and inspired reviving Newcastle to a 2-0 win at West Bromwich Albion, their fourth Premier victory in a row. Fabio Coloccini scored the second goal.

Everton’s veteran England midfielder Gareth Barry suffered a suspected broken leg in a 1-1 draw at Sunderland. Sebastian Larsson converted a free kick for the hosts with Leighton Baines levelling from a penalty.

** Coventry, FA Cup winners in 1987, have been knocked out of the Cup 2-1 in the first round by part-timers Worcester City from the sixth tier of English football.

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