Howler buries Chelsea in nightmare day for two Premier League heavyweights as Liverpool drop more points

Chelsea have capitulated against relegation battlers Leeds United, while Premier League leaders Arsenal extended their lead with a clinical victory.

The fourth-placed Blues dropped further away from the title hunt on Thursday morning (AEDT), slipping to a 3-1 defeat away from home at Elland Road.

The hosts scored in the sixth minute through Jaka Bijol, before Ao Tanaka made it a two-goal deficit before half time.

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Chelsea struck back after the break when Pedro Neto scored, but any hopes of walking away with points dissipated after an ugly 72nd goal from Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

As the visitors tried to work the ball out of their own end, it was intercepted by a Leeds player and the Chelsea keeper couldn't clean it up before Calvert-Lewin pounced.

"A very poor night," Maresca said.

"They (Leeds) deserved to win the game, they were better in all aspects."

The win pushes Leeds up to 17th spot, three points clear of West Ham.

In the other mid-week fixtures, Liverpool drew 1-1 at home against Sunderland as their tough campaign under Arne Slot continues.

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Slot will be back under pressure, with his team languishing in eighth place in a disappointing title defense and his decision to leave star forward Mohamed Salah out of the starting lineup for a second straight game likely to be heavily scrutinised.

"It's clear ... teams that play us now think they can get a result," the coach said.

Despite being without a slew of top players due to injury or rotation, Arsenal proved too strong for Brentford as Mikel Merino scored early and Bukayo Saka put the icing on the cake in stoppage time to complete a 2-0 win.

Elsewhere, last-placed Wolverhampton remained without a win this campaign after losing 1-0 at home to Nottingham Forest and remain on two points after 14 rounds.

Aston Villa came from 2-0 down to win 4-3 at Brighton, posting a fourth-straight victory to consolidate their position in the top four. Ollie Watkins scored twice for Villa.

Crystal Palace beat Burnley 1-0 thanks to Colombia wing-back Daniel Munoz's goal.