Liverpool breathed life into their top-four hopes with a 2-0 win at fourth-placed Newcastle United, who had Nick Pope sent off to rule him out of the EFL Cup final.

Newcastle had only lost once – to the Reds last April – at St James' Park in the league over the past 12 months, but they came unstuck on Saturday thanks to the visitors' clinical finishing.

Darwin Nunez's first Premier League goal since November edged Liverpool ahead before Cody Gakpo netted for the second game running, but it was not until Nick Pope's dismissal in the 22nd minute that Newcastle looked doomed.

Even then, Eddie Howe's men coped well with the disadvantage and had chances to reduce the arrears, but the crossbar and Alisson kept them at bay as Liverpool moved to within six points of the top four.

Newcastle began brightly but were trailing in the 10th minute, Nunez beating Pope after exquisitely bringing down Trent Alexander-Arnold's pass.

It was 2-0 soon after.

Another divine pass, this time from Mohamed Salah, sliced open Newcastle's defence to find Gakpo, who stabbed home under Pope.

Things quickly got even worse for Newcastle as Pope rushed out of his box and fell on the ball hands first, earning him a straight red.

Newcastle responded well, almost pulling one back twice as Allan Saint-Maximin and Dan Burn both hit the bar.

But Liverpool reached the break unscathed, and they gave little away in the second half.

Callum Wilson should have halved the deficit late on, however, failing to beat Alisson when one-on-one as the Brazilian preserved his clean sheet.

Julian Nagelsmann was left furious by Dayot Upamecano's red card as Bayern Munich suffered a 3-2 Bundesliga defeat at Borussia Monchengladbach.

Upamecano was sent off in the eighth minute after being adjudged to have brought down Alassane Plea, who got goal-side of the centre-back after a hopeful long ball.

Goals from Lars Stindl, Jonas Hofmann and Marcus Thuram lifted Gladbach to a deserved win. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting equalised after Stindl's opener for Bayern, but Mathys Tel's late strike was scant consolation.

The defeat leaves Bayern in danger of being knocked down to second place when Union Berlin face Schalke on Sunday, while Borussia Dortmund will have the chance to move level on points with Nagelsmann's Bavarians when they host Hertha Berlin.

But Nagelsmann seemed less concerned with Bayern's league position than confronting referee Tobias Welz, reportedly storming through the media area after the game to loudly knock on the match official's door.

Afterwards, he told Sky: "In my eyes, Upa has only a minimal touch on his shoulder, but he doesn't pull.

"And you can see in the slow motion that Plea's shoulder does not move back a millimetre."

Insisting Welz should have explained himself, Nagelsmann added: "You can decide all this, but maybe you could stand up after the game and say that the red card might have been a bit exaggerated.

"Everyone can live with it, he is also a person who sometimes makes mistakes."

Bayern's Alphonso Davies, meanwhile, expressed pride in the spirit they showed after going down to 10 men.

"It's tough having a red card so early in the match," Davies told Bundesliga.com.

"It's not good for any team, but we just kept fighting, we kept playing the way we knew how to play. We continued on.

"I mean, it's unfortunate with the red card. You know, it can happen to anyone. We don't put our head down. We kept our head up, we kept fighting."

Milan climbed into Serie A's top four as Junior Messias secured a 1-0 win at Monza, whose owner Silvio Berlusconi failed to get one over on his old club.

Messias fired home on the turn just after the half-hour mark after Monza – who entered the game as Serie A's only unbeaten team in 2023 – twice went close in a fast start to Saturday's match.

Monza played their part in a lively affair but were unable to give Berlusconi – who bankrolled Milan to five European crowns – a result to cherish against his beloved Rossoneri.

Milan were able to claim victory without calling on Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the first time this season, with the striker again an unused substitute as they moved above Atalanta and Roma into third place.

Ciprian Tatarusanu was forced into action twice in the first two minutes, turning Patrick Ciurria's attempt away at the near post before denying Andrea Petagna from the resulting corner.

Rafael Leao saw a dipping 25-yard strike brush the post as Milan played their way into the game, while Michele Di Gregorio made two sharp saves to keep out Brahim Diaz and Fikayo Tomori.

Di Gregorio was finally beaten 31 minutes in, however, getting a hand to Messias' powerful left-footed volley but failing to stop the ball from finding the bottom-right corner.

Ciurria drilled a 20-yard effort against the foot of the post with 17 minutes remaining, but Milan stood firm and almost added a second through Charles De Ketelaere. 

Cesar Azpilicueta is responsive after being stretchered off following a head injury in Chelsea's 1-0 home defeat to Southampton, boss Graham Potter has revealed.

The defender took a boot to the face from Sekou Mara while defending a corner at Stamford Bridge, with a lengthy stoppage in play while he was attended to by medics.

The Blues captain was subsequently taken from the field and to hospital, as the hosts failed to find a response to James Ward-Prowse's first-half free-kick.

Potter offered an update on Azpilicueta's status after the game, revealing the 33-year-old is in medical care and able to hold a conversation.

"He is in hospital," he said. "He is conscious and speaking to his wife. Hopefully, he is in the best place.

"We are monitoring him. He needs to take all the precautions we need to take now."

Defeat marked a fourth game without victory in the Premier League for Chelsea, who remain firmly mired in mid-table despite a raft of expensive transfers last month.

Potter acknowledged the blame is his to shoulder for now, adding: "It was below par in the first half. I take as much responsibility as anyone in that.

"I thought we deserved a goal in the second half. When you don't score, it is obviously difficult. After a 1-0 defeat at home, any criticism you get is understandable.

"We've had a lot of injuries [and] challenges integrating players. A lot of people will say I'm the problem, and I'm not saying that their opinion is not worth articulating. My job is to work."

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola bemoaned his side's wastefulness in front of goal as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

The champions looked set to return to the Premier League summit thanks to Bernardo Silva's wonderful first-half strike after being usurped by Arsenal earlier on Saturday.

Chris Wood popped up late on, though, to deny them all three points as Forest avoided defeat against the reigning champions for the first time since December 1994, when they beat Manchester United.

City squandered a host of glorious opportunities to extend their lead before Wood's intervention, with Erling Haaland guilty of one particularly glaring miss, and Guardiola was disappointed with his side's profligacy.

"Congratulations to Nottingham for the point that they got," the City boss said.

"It was a brilliant performance, we played really good but we didn't score. We have to score and we didn't do it and that's why we dropped points.

"For the goal we could defend better, more energy but the way we played was brilliant.

"In the first half, it should be already be two- or three-zero, we conceded one shot on target and we dropped points.

"It's sad and disappointing but the way we played was really good."

The result meant City have failed to beat a promoted side in the Premier League for the first time since April 2021 when they lost against Leeds United – they had won nine such games in a row before the draw with Forest.

City defender Kyle Walker was less diplomatic than his manager, stating that City's failure to take all three points back to Manchester was "unacceptable".

"First and foremost, we go to the Emirates [where they beat Arsenal in midweek] and play the game we did and then come here, it [the performance] is unacceptable," he said.

"If we want to compete with teams near the top, we need to win. We missed a few chances and we need to do better as a team.

"Sometimes it's football and sometimes it's emotion. Every game should be treated the same, like a cup final. What can I say other than it is unacceptable. We have to stick together as a group.

"The senior members of the team need to put our thoughts across. That is just not acceptable. We have to give credit to Nottingham Forest. They dug in and hung on. We have to do better."

Iga Swiatek avenged an early-season loss to Jessica Pegula as she stormed to the Qatar Open title on Saturday, completing a stunning trophy defence.

In three matches, Swiatek surrendered only five games, sealing the title with a 6-3 6-0 victory over American Pegula.

A heavy defeat to Pegula in Sydney at the beginning of the year saw Swiatek reduced to tears, and she then lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open in Melbourne, albeit to eventual finalist Elena Rybakina.

Now Swiatek is back, with brutal wins over Danielle Collins and Veronika Kudermetova – allowing both players just one game each – preceding her dismissal of Pegula in the final.

The 21-year-old has 12 career titles and is off the mark in 2023, extending her head-to-head dominance to 5-2 over world number four Pegula.

Swiatek said: "I don't care how many games are won or lost. I just feel like I really found my rhythm here, and after a tough beginning of the season I could stay focused from the beginning to the end of the matches, and I'm pretty happy with my performance.

"I hope playing well here is going to be a routine."

The world number one sent a message of support during her on-court speech to the people of war-torn Ukraine, for whom she has helped to raise funds over the last 12 months.

Swiatek, from Poland, said she felt "a real throwback to last year", when this event was taking place as the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

"This was the first tournament where I had a chance to make a speech when the war started in Ukraine," she said. "I feel like we all have pretty short memories, but we should all support Ukrainians with everything they're coping with every day.

"It's pretty disappointing the situation is not changing, but hopefully they will stay strong."

Chelsea's poor form continued as they went down to a 1-0 defeat to Southampton at Stamford Bridge, while they also lost captain Cesar Azpilicueta to what appeared to be a serious injury.

The Spaniard received an accidental boot to the head from Sekou Mara while defending a corner in the 74th minute, leading to 10 minutes of treatment on the field before he was taken off.

James Ward-Prowse's first-half free-kick had given the visitors the lead against Graham Potter's side, extending Chelsea's winless league run to four games.

Southampton caretaker manager Ruben Selles will be happy with the three points his side earned as they picked up a big result in their first game since the sacking of Nathan Jones.

It was Saints who made the brighter start, with Paul Onuachu forcing a save from Kepa Arrizabalaga inside five minutes.

Chelsea gradually found a foothold in the game, with Azpilicueta trying his best to get his team on top in a low-quality encounter.

It was his foul on Stuart Armstrong outside his own box in the 45th minute that allowed Ward-Prowse to dip a trademark free-kick over the wall and into the bottom-left corner of the goal just before half-time.

With a deficit to overturn, the hosts went close several times after the interval, with Romain Perraud making a dramatic clearance to deny substitute Raheem Sterling off the goal-line.

After such a lengthy pause for Azpilicueta's treatment, both teams struggled for cohesion following the restart, but Saints clung on for a crucial victory.

Manchester City missed the chance to return to the Premier League summit as Chris Wood's late goal secured a 1-1 draw for Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola's men had been usurped after Arsenal's last-gasp win over Aston Villa earlier in the day, but they looked set to reclaim top spot thanks to Bernardo Silva's sumptuous first-half strike.

City wasted a host of glorious opportunities to extend their lead in the second half, with Erling Haaland guilty of one particularly glaring miss, and they were duly punished late on.

Substitute Wood popped up at the back post to score his first goal for the club to punish City's profligacy and hand Arsenal the advantage in the title race.

Bayern Munich had Dayot Upamecano sent off in a 3-2 defeat at Borussia Monchengladbach that dealt a fresh blow to their hopes of winning an 11th consecutive Bundesliga title.

The French defender received his marching orders in the eighth minute for a messy challenge, and goals from Lars Stindl, Jonas Hofmann and Marcus Thuram lifted Gladbach to a deserved win. Hofmann scored one and had two assists in a masterclass.

Daniel Farke's home side had won just one of their past five league games, but they did well here, reasserting themselves in the second half after Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting equalised Stindl's opener before the break. Mathys Tel's late strike for Bayern was scant consolation.

It leaves Bayern in danger of being knocked down to second place when Union Berlin face Schalke on Sunday, while Borussia Dortmund will have the chance to move level on points with Julian Nagelsmann's Bavarians when they host Hertha Berlin.

Bayern made a dreadful start, with Dayot Upamecano ordered off after bringing down Alassane Plea who got goal-side of the centre-back after a hopeful long ball.

The home side snatched a 13th-minute lead when a free-kick on the right was played by Hofmann to captain Stindl on the edge of the penalty area and his low strike found the bottom-right corner, beating Yann Sommer.

Bayern made a tactical change, replacing captain Thomas Muller with defender Joao Cancelo, but Stindl should have had a second goal for Gladbach in the 24th minute when he shot six inches wide after being picked out on the penalty spot by Kouadio Kone.

It was a major let-off and Bayern drew level in the 35th minute when Alphonso Davies dashed down the left and played a low centre that Choupo-Moting drove past Jonas Omlin for his eighth league goal of the season.

Yet it was Gladbach who struck next, in the 55th minute, when Plea's smart pass across goal from the right was calmly slotted in by Hofmann. It was also his eighth goal of the campaign, and Plea's eighth assist.

Ramy Bensebaini rattled the Bayern crossbar moments later, while at the other end Cancelo sent a drive from the edge of the box into the side-netting and Davies shot wildly wide.

Thuram looked to have sealed victory in the 84th minute, turning in a pass from Hofmann, before Tel turned in Bayern's second from close range in stoppage time amid a frantic finish.

What does it mean?

Bayern cannot buy a win when they ship the opening goal on league duty. They have now failed to win their last eight games when conceding first in the Bundesliga, and that is a problem for a champion team.

Great teams find a way, and on the evidence of much of this season, not just this setback, we are possibly not looking at a great Bayern.

Nagelsmann is winless in five games now against Gladbach in all competitions since joining Bayern (D2, L3).

French folly

It was a Frenchman who was the toast of Bayern in the 1-0 win at Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, when Kingsley Coman got the only goal.

Here it was another Frenchman in Upamecano whose clumsy defending proved costly. The red card was his third in the Bundesliga, and first since June 6, 2020, when he was an RB Leipzig player.

It was also the earliest a red card has been shown in the Bundesliga this season.

Gladbach pair at it again

Stindl and Hofmann rarely give Bayern a quiet moment. On this occasion, Stindl's goal was his eighth goal involvement against Bayern in the Bundesliga, while Hofmann's assist was his ninth such involvement against the champions.

Hofmann's 10th involvement came when he fired home to give the hosts a 2-1 lead, and his 11th brought about the hosts' third. Among current Bundesliga players, nobody has been involved in more goals against Bayern, with Marco Reus also on 11 involvements.

What's next?

Bayern will be back on home turf next weekend when they host Union Berlin on the Sunday. Gladbach do not have to wait so long for another Bundesliga game, with a trip to Mainz coming up on Friday.

Arsenal were "absolutely bouncing" after Saturday's dramatic 4-2 win over Aston Villa saw them produce a morale-boosting response to defeat to Manchester City.

Mikel Arteta watched on as Arsenal were twice forced to come from behind at Villa Park in the day's early kick-off, with Ollie Watkins and Philippe Coutinho putting the hosts in front.

Bukayo Saka and Oleksandr Zinchenko got the equalisers for the Gunners, who for a while looked as though they would have to settle for a 2-2 draw, particularly when Martin Odegaard missed a glorious opportunity.

But in second-half stoppage time, Jorginho's 25-yard strike hit the crossbar and ricocheted into the goal off Emiliano Martinez's head to finally put Arsenal in front.

They finished Villa off on the break, Gabriel Martinelli putting into an empty net while Martinez was up the other end for a corner, and Arsenal's celebrations at full-time depicted intense jubilation after a run of three Premier League games without a win.

The midweek defeat to City saw Pep Guardiola's men replace Arsenal at the summit, though such a dramatic turnaround appeared to be the perfect tonic.

Asked what the mood was in the Arsenal changing rooms at full-time, Arteta told BT Sport: "It was absolutely bouncing because it was a big effort to play less than 72 hours after the [City] game that we had, and the result we had.

"That is obviously mentally tough, but I'm really pleased with the boys."

The manner of the triumph was as pleasing as anything for Arteta, who reminded his players they cannot expect to just win games in a straightforward fashion.

"When you want to be at the top, you are going to have to win games in many different ways," he continued.

"You're going to have to score goals in the 94th minute, and sometimes play with 10 men, get comeback results.

"To do it especially against this team in this stadium, a lot of credit to the boys."

Arsenal's attitude and spirit also impressed Arteta, though he was under no illusions about their performance being far from perfect.

He added: "We showed a lot of character, resilience to get back twice in the game and end up winning it.

"We have to take some lessons from today because especially in the first half we didn't do the simple things right.

"You give them the two chances to score those goals in a really simple way, but we spoke at half-time, if we raised individual standards and start to do what we have to do, we're going to win this game, and we then went out – which is difficult – and won it.

"In the second half I think we outplayed them. I think we created chance after chance, dominated the game. We needed a magic moment and Jorginho produced it."

Jorginho summed up his feelings after his strike forced a late goal to give Arsenal all three points at Aston Villa by simply saying: "That's [the] Premier League".

The Italy international hit a superb shot in the 93rd minute that struck the woodwork, before hitting Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez on the back of the head and rolling into the net to put Arsenal 3-2 up on Saturday.

Gabriel Martinelli sealed a 4-2 win with a breakaway goal in the closing seconds as Arsenal returned to the top of the Premier League table ahead of Manchester City's trip to Nottingham Forest.

"That's [the] Premier League," Jorginho told BT Sport. "That's why it's the best league in the world. It's just beautiful."

Mikel Arteta's side were without a win in three top-flight games and fell 1-0 down early on at Villa Park to an Ollie Watkins goal, with Bukayo Saka's equaliser followed by Philippe Coutinho restoring the hosts' lead before the break.

Oleksandr Zinchenko levelled things again just after the hour, before Jorginho's shot forced a dramatic Martinez own goal to delight the visitors, with Martinelli adding an easy fourth on the counter after Villa's goalkeeper had come up for a corner.

"It was very important," Jorginho added. "After the last results we had and the start [today] it was not easy, we were not producing our game, and then we came to half-time, had a talk and we went back to doing the basics we need to do and we could change the game."

Zinchenko hailed the "amazing group" at Arsenal and stated his belief that they can "achieve everything" as they compete with his former club City in the title race.

"I think from this game I would like to say two things," he said. "First, we took an unbelievable lesson for all of us, we just need to believe until the very end and we can achieve everything.

"Like I said many times in the past already, this group is [full of] such amazing people, can achieve everything they want if we want to continue in this way, keep fighting, keep believing.

"Also, this reaction of us in the second half is perfect, I think that's the right way to go for the future games."

England captain Ben Stokes has overhauled coach Brendon McCullum's record for the most sixes in Test matches, reaching 109 against New Zealand on Saturday.

The all-rounder lifted back-to-back balls from New Zealand bowler Scott Kuggeleijn over the boundary to reach the figure on day three of the teams' first meeting in Mount Maunganui.

Stokes' efforts with the bat saw him pull clear outright of ex-Black Caps batter McCullum, who scored 107 sixes during an illustrious red-ball career.

Stokes achieved the feat in fewer games than his coach, reaching his new total in 90 Tests, compared to 101 for McCullum.

In a further quirk of coincidence, the pair have also scored the exact same number of Test centuries, with a dozen apiece, and have been dismissed for a duck on 14 occasions each.

The duo are also two of only three men's players to reach triple-figures when it comes to sixes in Test match cricket, alongside Australia's Adam Gilchrist, who has 100.

Stokes and McCullum have led a dramatic revival of England's Test fortunes since they took charge last year, leading them to nine wins in 10 Tests ahead of their New Zealand tour.

Ahead of a home Ashes series later this year, the pair have impressed once again in New Zealand, with the tourists holding a 330-run lead at the end of day three at the Bay Oval.

Stuart Broad's riotous 4-21 helped reduce the Black Caps to 63-5 at the close of play, with England having reached 374 all out after half-centuries from Joe Root, Ben Foakes and Harry Brook.

Massimiliano Allegri insists he is not nervous amid reports suggesting his position as Juventus coach is at risk, saying critics cannot argue with his achievements in Turin.

Juventus benefitted from a late VAR reprieve in a 1-0 win over Fiorentina in Serie A last Sunday, before being pegged back by Nantes in a 1-1 Europa League draw on Thursday.

Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport reported Allegri is clinging to his job in his second stint with the club, amid a frustrating campaign which has seen them exit the Champions League at the first hurdle and receive a 15-point deduction in Serie A after an investigation into historic transfer dealings.

Allegri was seen arguing with a supporter in the aftermath of Juve's last league outing, but he claims he is not feeling the pressure.

"I'm not nervous," Allegri said at a press conference to preview Sunday's trip to Spezia. "Something happened with someone booing the players for no reason.

"The other night it was perhaps the wrong reaction, and I can accept criticism for many things, but there is one thing, we shouldn't talk about facts. There's no arguing about that.

"I accept that they say that I'm a poor coach and my teams suck because that's part of the criticism. But there's no arguing about the numbers."

Allegri led Juventus to five successive Serie A titles and two Champions League finals during his first spell with the club between 2014 and 2019, but he oversaw the Bianconeri's first trophyless campaign since 2010-11 last season.

Following Thursday's draw with Nantes, Juventus have won just one of their last eight matches in European competitions (D1 L6), though they did at least avoid suffering four consecutive continental defeats for the first time.

Allegri rejects the notion Juve's critics should be more understanding given the off-pitch turmoil impacting the club, and says they have plenty to play for in the remainder of the campaign.

"We don't need understanding," he said. "We have to try to do our best. We have to make an important climb in the league, it's important for us to score a certain amount of points regardless of what happens outside.

"It's a pity, the Europa, but it's proof that there aren't any easy games in Europe and so we'll have to go to Nantes and try to play a game that will allow us to go through, and we have the chance.

"Then we have the semi-final of the Coppa Italia and we'll see there too."