Man City turns corner with successive wins in Premier League as Arsenal and Chelsea drop points

Erling Haaland and Manchester City might just be turning the corner after the team's worst run of results under Pep Guardiola.

Haaland scored twice in a 4-1 win over West Ham on Saturday as City secured back-to-back victories in the Premier League for the first time since late October, when a shocking and unthinkable six-week meltdown began.

In that time, the defending champions played nine league games and won just once, dropping them out of the Champions League qualification spots and raising questions about Guardiola's stomach for a rebuild.

Now, City can hope for better times ahead — especially after making up ground on second-placed Arsenal and fourth-placed Chelsea after they both dropped points in draws at Brighton and Crystal Palace, respectively, on Saturday.

Still, Guardiola wasn't getting carried away.

“I’m very pleased for the result," he said, “but you cannot ask me if the old City is back. If you saw the game, we are not.”

However, while the 2-0 win at Leicester last weekend was unconvincing, there were better signs against West Ham — at least in attack with Haaland looking sharp. The Norway striker headed in Savinho's cross to make it 2-0 in the 42nd minute and chipped the goalkeeper for 3-0 in the 55th after running onto another pass from Savinho.

Either side, there was an own-goal and a strike from Phil Foden before Niclas Fullkrug pulled one back for West Ham.

“We are still not like we were, for different reasons,” Guardiola said. "The result will help. We struggle but it is a release.”

City stayed in sixth.

It was a good day for Liverpool — and the league leader didn't even play.

Arsenal was held to 1-1 at Brighton, which equalized from the penalty spot through Joao Pedro, and missed the chance to trim the gap to Liverpool to three points. Ethan Nwaneri put Arsenal ahead and, at age 17, became only the sixth player under 18 to score multiple Premier League goals.

Brighton's penalty was awarded after Arsenal defender William Saliba was adjudged to have clashed heads with Pedro as they challenged for a bouncing ball. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was disappointed with the call, saying: “I have never seen a decision like this in my career. I asked the boys if they have and nobody has seen it before.”

Chelsea's winless run in the league extended to four matches after drawing at Palace 1-1.

Jean-Philippe Mateta equalized in the 82nd for Palace, cancelling out Cole Palmer's opener.

Chelsea has drawn twice and lost twice since Dec. 22, damaging a title bid that had been picking up some steam — even if manager Enzo Maresca never accepted his team was a realistic challenger.

"We still created so many chances in front of goal but it's about getting the end product," Chelsea winger Jadon Sancho said. “We're still playing the same football, we are still giving 100%. This is what happens in football.”

Liverpool leads Arsenal by five points and Chelsea by nine, and has two games in hand over both rivals. The first comes at home to Manchester United on Sunday.

Alexander Isak scored in a seventh straight Premier League game to earn Newcastle a 2-1 win at injury-hit Tottenham.

The Sweden striker grabbed the 38th-minute winner and there was a hint of fortune about it, with Tottenham defender Radu Drăgușin getting the slightest of touches on a cross and deflecting the ball onto the foot of Isak. The ball dribbled into the net for Isak's 13th goal of the season, and ninth in his past seven games.

Thomas Tuchel was in the stands in his first scouting mission in his role as the recently hired England coach. Two players likely to be in his first squad, to be announced in March for World Cup qualifiers, got on the score sheet in the opening six minutes.

Dominic Solanke headed Tottenham ahead in the fourth minute, and Anthony Gordon equalized.

It was a fifth straight win for fifth-placed Newcastle, while Tottenham stayed in the bottom half of the standings with just one point from its last four games.

A change in manager hasn't helped Southampton.

The league's last-placed team was beaten by Brentford 5-0 at home for a third straight defeat under Ivan Juric, who was hired on Dec. 21 to replace the fired Russell Martin. Southampton has one point from four games under Juric and just six points overall.

Bryan Mbeumo scored two of Brentford's goals and has 13 for the season in the league. It was Brentford's biggest ever win in the Premier League.

Aston Villa beat Leicester 2-1, while Bournemouth won at home to Everton 1-0 and was eight games unbeaten — a club record in its time in the Premier League.

Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Arsenal's Ethan Nwaneri scores the opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Brighton and Hove Albion FC and Arsenal at the Amex stadium in Brighton, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

Brighton's Joao Pedro celebrates after scoring a penalty kick during the English Premier League soccer match between Brighton and Hove Albion FC and Arsenal at the Amex stadium in Brighton, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

Manchester City's Erling Haaland, left, scores his side's second goal against West Ham during a English Premier League soccer match at Etihad stadium in Manchester, England, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Chelsea's Cole Palmer reatcs during the English Premier League soccer match between Crystal Palace and Chelsea in London, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)

Chelsea's Pedro Neto reacts after the English Premier League soccer match between Crystal Palace and Chelsea in London, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)

Manchester City's Erling Haaland, left, scores his side's 2nd goal against West Ham during a English Premier League soccer match at Etihad stadium in Manchester, England, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Manchester City's Erling Haaland, left, is congratulated by Savinho after scoring his side's 2nd goal against West Ham during a English Premier League soccer match at Etihad stadium in Manchester, England, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Manchester City's Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring his side's 2nd goal against West Ham during a English Premier League soccer match at Etihad stadium in Manchester, England, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe gestures during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Saturday Jan. 4, 2025. (John Walton/PA via AP)

Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Saturday Jan. 4, 2025. (John Walton/PA via AP)

Tottenham Hotspur's Dominic Solanke, front, and Newcastle United's Sven Botman battle for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Saturday Jan. 4, 2025. (John Walton/PA via AP)

Newcastle United's Alexander Isak score past Tottenham's Brandon Austin during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Saturday Jan. 4, 2025. (John Walton/PA via AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to meet Thursday at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by then-President Nicolás Maduro before the United States captured him in an audacious military raid this month.

Less than two weeks after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges, Trump will host the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Machado, having already dismissed her credibility to run Venezuela and raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in the country.

“She’s a very nice woman,” Trump told Reuters in an interview about Machado. “I’ve seen her on television. I think we’re just going to talk basics.”

The meeting comes as Trump and his top advisers have signaled their willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and along with others in the deposed leader's inner circle remain in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.

Rodríguez herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move reportedly made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.

Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump told reporters. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

In endorsing Rodríguez, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela. She had sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key advisers like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a political gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government. She also intends to have a meeting in the Senate on Thursday afternoon.

Despite her alliance with Republicans, Trump was quick to snub her following Maduro’s capture. Just hours afterward, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”

Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump coveted. She has since thanked Trump and offered to share the prize with him, a move that has been rejected by the Nobel Institute.

Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.

Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.

Janetsky reported from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)