Liverpool and Man City lose again to boost Arsenal's Premier League title pursuit

Liverpool's Premier League title defense lurched deeper into crisis Saturday — losing 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest. Manchester City's challenge was also hit by a 2-1 loss at Newcastle.

A sixth defeat of the campaign left last season's runaway champion Liverpool 11th in the standings and eight points behind leader Arsenal, having played a game more.

Coach Arne Slot accepted it was a “very, very, very bad result” and said he could “never come up with enough excuses" for his team's alarming run of results.

“That is far from good enough and I’m responsible for that,” he said after goals from Murillo, Nicolo Savona and Morgan Gibbs-White at Anfield consigned Liverpool to a sixth defeat from its last seven games in England's top flight.

To put that into context, the Merseyside club only lost four times over the entire season last term when winning a record-equaling 20th title.

Arsenal was the big winner on the day, despite not playing, after seeing two of its main rivals drop more points.

City fell to its fourth defeat, with Harvey Barnes scoring twice for Newcastle at St James' Park.

Chelsea is second and within three points of Arsenal after a 2-0 win at Burnley. Arsenal plays Tottenham on Sunday.

Crystal Palace beat Wolverhampton 2-0 and Fulham won 1-0 at home to Sunderland.

Brighton won 2-1 against Brentford while Bournemouth came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with West Ham.

It was the second time in successive seasons Forest has won at Anfield and it lifted Sean Dyche’s team out of the relegation zone. It was also back-to-back wins for the first time this term for Forest, which is already on its third coach following the firings of Nuno Espirito Santo and Ange Postecoglou.

How Liverpool could do with a similar winning run after seeing its title defense unravel long before the season has even reached the halfway point.

It has only won once in the league since Sept. 20. and the latest loss could have been even worse, with Forest seeing a first-half strike from Igor Jesus ruled out for handball.

That would have doubled the visitors' lead after Murillo had opened the scoring with a low effort from inside the box in the 33rd minute. Ultimately it mattered little as Forest pressed home its superiority in the second half through Savona a minute after the restart.

As Liverpool tried to mount a comeback, Gibbs-White put the game beyond doubt in the 78th.

Not even the return of goalkeeper Alisson from injury and a first start in a month for British record signing Alexander Isak could turn Liverpool's form around.

Isak was substituted after 68 minutes and extended his goalless run to six games since scoring his only goal of the season against second division Southampton in September.

“Everyone is disappointed, like they should be, because losing at home against Nottingham Forest is, in my eyes, very bad,” said Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk. “That’s the least I can say about it.”

City had the chance to go within a point of Arsenal after a statement win against Liverpool before the international break. But its frailties were exposed by a Newcastle team that was on the back of two straight defeats in the league.

Barnes, along with Nick Woltemade, had squandered a number of chances before he got his first with a low shot from the edge of the area in the 63rd.

Ruben Dias leveled for City five minutes later, but Barnes flicked in the winner in the 70th.

City is third, four points adrift of Arsenal, having played a game more.

“There is a long, long, long way to go," City manager Pep Guardiola said.

Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez scored at Turf Moor as Chelsea moved up to second.

Neto headed Chelsea in front in the 37th minute for his second goal in as many games and his fourth this season.

Fernandez sealed the win in the 88th with a low shot from inside the box.

Burnley's defeat saw it drop into the relegation zone. West Ham joined Forest in climbing out of the bottom three - but the Londoners squandered two points at Bournemouth.

Leading 2-0 at halftime through goals from Callum Wilson, West Ham couldn't hold on to what would have been a fourth win of the season.

Marcus Tavernier from the penalty spot and Enes Unal sealed the comeback for Bournemouth.

Crystal Palace and Brighton both won to keep them flying high in the standings.

Palace is up to fourth after adding to last-placed Wolves' woes in new coach Rob Edwards' first game in charge. Daniel Munoz and Yeremy Pino scored within six minutes of each other in the second half at Molineux to leave Wolves still winless after 12 rounds of the season.

In-form Danny Welbeck scored his seventh goal in eight games as fifth-placed Brighton came back from a goal down to beat Brentford.

Fulham won for only the second time in seven league games with Raul Jimenez scoring in the 84th to beat Sunderland.

James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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

Newcastle's Harvey Barnes runs after scoring during a Premier League soccer match between Newcastle United and Manchester City in Newcastle, England, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Brighton and Hove Albion's Danny Welbeck, right, celebrates scoring during the English Premier League match between Brighton and Hove Albion and Brentford in Brighton, England, Saturday Nov. 22, 2025. (John Walton/PA via AP)

Crystal Palace's Yeremi Pino celebrates scoring during the English Premier League soccer match at Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, England, Saturday Nov. 22, 2025. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

Liverpool's manager Arne Slot gives instructions from the side line during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in Liverpool, England, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Nottingham Forest's Murillo, centre, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in Liverpool, England, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Chelsea's Pedro Neto celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Burnley v Chelsea, in Burnley, England, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. (Gary Oakley/PA via AP)

Chelsea's Pedro Neto, right, scores the opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Burnley v Chelsea, in Burnley, England, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. (Gary Oakley/PA via AP)

Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez, second from left, scores their side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Burnley v Chelsea, in Burnley, England, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. (Gary Oakley/PA via AP)

Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez celebrates scoring their side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Burnley v Chelsea, in Burnley, England, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are rushing higher worldwide, and oil prices are easing Wednesday as hopes build that the war with Iran could end soon. That's even though some of the signals investors saw as hopeful are already under dispute, and several prior bouts of optimism in financial markets quickly got undercut by continued, fierce fighting in the war.

The S&P 500 rallied 0.9% and added to its leap from the day before, which was its best since last spring. That followed even bigger gains for stock markets across Europe and Asia, including an 8.4% surge in South Korea, which were catching up to Wall Street’s rally from Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 294 points, or 0.6%, as of 2:08 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.3% higher.

Oil prices also fell back toward $100 per barrel after President Donald Trump said late Tuesday that the U.S. military could end its offensive in two to three weeks.

That added to optimism following a couple tenuous signals of hope from earlier Tuesday that Wall Street latched onto, including a news report quoting Iran’s president as saying that it has “the necessary will to end the war” as long as certain requirements are met, including “guarantees to prevent a recurrence of aggression.”

The worry on Wall Street has been that the war may last a long time and keep oil and natural gas from the Persian Gulf out of global markets, which could create a brutal blast of inflation.

But hope has been quick to reverse to doubt on Wall Street, triggering manic swings back and forth for financial markets since the war with Iran began. Trump has also made statements that lifted markets, only to see the gains quickly disappear after increasing his military threats.

Shortly before Wall Street began trading on Wednesday, Trump claimed in a post on his social media network that Iran “has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE!”

“We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!”

But Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, quickly called that claim “false and baseless,” according to a report on Iranian state television.

Oil prices also remain high, even if they’ve eased recently. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, was sitting at $101.51 following its declines, which is still up from roughly $70 before the war began.

U.S. gasoline prices rose again overnight to a national average of $4.06 per gallon, according to the auto club AAA.

Iran, meanwhile, hit an oil tanker off the coast of Qatar and Kuwait’s airport on Wednesday while airstrikes battered Tehran as the fighting continued. Iran also continues to hold a grip on the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s traded oil passes during peacetime.

“De-escalation hopes have given markets a lift, but we think the effects of the war would, in many cases, persist even if the war did end soon,” Thomas Mathews, head of markets, Asia Pacific at Capital Economics, said in a research note Wednesday.

“It’s worth thinking through how markets might fare if the war were to end ‘very soon,’” he wrote. “Do markets have further to recover if sentiment continues to improve? The answer is almost certainly yes.”

The White House said Trump will deliver a public address Wednesday evening on the Iran war.

On Wall Street, most stocks rose as Big Tech powered the move higher. Gains of 3.8% for Alphabet and 0.8% for Nvidia were two of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500.

Eli Lilly climbed 5.1% after U.S. regulators approved its GLP-1 pill for weight loss.

Such gains have pulled the S&P 500, which sits at the heart of many 401(k) accounts, back to within 5.6% of its all-time high set early this year. Just on Monday, the index briefly neared a 10% drop from its record, a steep-enough fall that professional investors have a name for it: a “correction.”

Nike sank 14.5% even though it reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than expected. Analysts said it gave some lackluster financial forecasts.

Hasbro fell 4.8% after the toy company found someone had gained unauthorized access to its computer network and is working to assess the full impact.

Energy companies fell broadly as oil prices eased. Exxon Mobil slumped 5% and Chevron fell 4.9%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes leaped more than 2% in France and Germany. Asian markets had even bigger gains.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 jumped 5.2% after a survey showed business sentiment for major Japanese manufacturers improved despite worries about the Iran war.

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady after a report said U.S. retailers made more money in February than economists expected. A separate report said U.S. manufacturing growth last month was slightly faster than economists expected.

The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.32% from 4.30% late Tuesday.

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed.

James Conti works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Philip Finale works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader reacts near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A screen displays financial information on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)