Arsenal falls to Bournemouth and lets Man City back into Premier League title race

Arsenal's Premier League title bid was hit by a stunning 2-1 loss to Bournemouth at Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

The league leader blew the chance to move 12 points clear of second-placed Manchester City after losing for the third time in four games in all competitions.

“It's a big punch to the face,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said. “Now it’s about how we react to that, because it’s game on, it’s going to require now a big spirit, a lot of fight.”

Liverpool got a glimpse of the future as 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha scored a brilliant solo goal in a 2-0 win against Fulham.

The forward curled in the opening goal at Anfield. Mohamed Salah added the second in his first game in front his home fans since announcing he was leaving Liverpool at the end of the season.

Alex Scott struck a 74th-minute winner to pile pressure on Arsenal ahead of next week's top-of-the-table clash at Manchester City.

Arsenal has played two more games than City, which travels to Chelsea on Sunday and could close the gap to six points.

“There are no gray areas now,” Arteta said.

Arsenal has not won the title since 2004 and is slumping at the worst time. Defeats to City in the English League Cup final and to second-division Southampton in the FA Cup ended its pursuit of a quadruple of trophies.

It beat Sporting Lisbon 1-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday but the latest loss will only heighten tension in the race for the English title after three straight years of finishing runner-up.

“The fact that as a club we haven’t done it for so long, there's a reason for that, it talks about the difficulty,” Arteta said.

Arsenal faces a huge week against Sporting in the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday and then at City on Sunday.

Bournemouth went ahead inside 17 minutes through Junior Kroupi’s close-range goal. Viktor Gyokeres leveled from the penalty spot in the 35th but Arsenal struggled to create openings and Scott sealed the victory that potentially blew the title race open.

Bournemouth has won in back-to-back seasons at Arsenal and set a new club record of 12 straight games unbeaten in the Premier League.

While Arsenal remains in the driver's seat at the top of the standings, the form guide does not make good reading from Arteta’s perspective.

League stats provider Opta said before kickoff that the Arsenal manager’s Premier League win percentage in April was 44%, compared to 79% for City's Pep Guardiola.

“So today we have to suffer, it’s painful, it’s a terrible feeling, but tomorrow is a different day, and if somebody had said to me in August we are in this position right now in April, I’m sure we would all take it,” Arteta said.

As one great prepares to say goodbye to Liverpool, a new star is emerging.

Salah will bring the curtain down on an outstanding Anfield career at the end of the season — and even in a campaign in which his form has dipped he is still capable of getting fans out of their seats.

He did that with his goal late in the first half to double Liverpool's lead, firing low past Bernd Leno.

But thoughts will naturally turn to the future and, in teenager Ngumoha, Liverpool has a talent to get excited about.

He announced himself early in the season with his dramatic late winner against Newcastle and he produced another special moment with his first Anfield goal.

“Liverpool for me are the biggest club in the world. To start so young, and the manager having belief in me, and all the players ... I’ve just got to keep working hard and keep pushing on and just go again,” Ngumoha said.

Liverpool tightened its grip on fifth place and Champions League qualification, moving four points clear of Chelsea in sixth.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall struck in stoppage time as Everton twice fought back from a goal down to draw at Brentford 2-2.

Igor Thiago twice gave Brentford the lead at Gtech Community Stadium from a third-minute penalty and a goal in the 76th.

Beto leveled for Everton in the first half and Dewsbury-Hall produced his dramatic equalizer in the first minute of added time.

Brentford missed the chance to move up to sixth.

Brazil striker Thiago has 24 goals in all competitions this season and 21 in the league. Only Erling Haaland with 22 has more.

Mats Wieffer scored in both halves as Brighton beat Burnley 2-0.

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

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

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Fulham in Liverpool, England, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Liverpool's Rio Ngumoha celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Fulham in Liverpool, England, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Brentford's Igor Thiago celebrates scoring his side's first goal from the penalty spot during the English Premier League match between Brentford and Everton, at the Gtech Community Stadium, London, Saturday April 11, 2026. (Steven Paston/PA via AP)

Bournemouth's Alex Scott scores his side's second goal of the game during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Bournemouth in London, England Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)

Arsenal's Gabriel reacts following defeat in Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Bournemouth in London, England Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)

Arsenal's Declan Rice reacts during the Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Bournemouth in London, England Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)

Arsenal's Viktor Gyokeres, left, scores their side's first goal of the game from the penalty spot during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Bournemouth, in London, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)

Bournemouth's Evanilson, and Eli Junior Kroupi celebrate after scoring during the Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Bournemouth in London, England Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)

Bournemouth's Eli Junior Kroupi scores during the Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Bournemouth in London, England Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)

Arsenal's manager Mikel Arteta reacts during the Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Bournemouth in London, England Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)

MADRID (AP) — Pope Leo XIV urged Spaniards on Saturday to stop “fanning the flames of polarization” as he arrived in Spain at a moment of political turmoil for the Socialist-led government and a credibility crisis for the Catholic Church.

The American pontiff traveled to Spain dozens of times as a priest, but this is the first visit here by a pope in 15 years. And Spaniards turned out in droves to welcome Leo, with an estimated 500,000 people — many of them young — cheering “This is the youth of the pope” at a raucous evening prayer vigil in Plaza de Lima in Madrid, where Leo was treated to a rock star's welcome.

Leo's visit signals a return of papal attention to Europe’s Christian roots after Pope Francis largely stayed away from the traditional centers of Christianity in favor of smaller Catholic communities farther away.

Leo is seemingly keen to bring his message of peace, unity and human dignity to a continent sorely polarized over migration, the Russia-Ukraine war and anxiety over artificial intelligence.

The pope, known as León XIV in Spanish, opened his weeklong trip in Madrid, greeted at the airport by the country’s Catholic monarchs, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. He told reporters, while traveling, that he was particularly heartened by reports of a spiritual awakening among young people in the once-staunchly Catholic but now secularized country.

During his welcome address, Leo appealed to Spaniards, especially political leaders, to put polemics aside and invest in educating young people to appreciate diversity and complexity rather than shunning them.

“Today, the temptation to gain popularity by fanning the flames of polarization seems to have grown rather than diminished, and human dignity continues to be violated,” Leo said.

He appealed to Spain’s place at the heart of Christian Europe to serve as a model for the rest of the continent, while also recalling the country's 800-year Moorish past, when cities like Toledo and Córdoba became, he said, “centers of dialogue between languages, religions and knowledge.”

“For the love of truth, I invite everyone to set aside the divisive and polarizing narratives of your societal reality and history,” he said. Doing so will help Europe “overcome sterile simplifications through the fruitful appreciation of complexity.”

Spaniards find themselves increasingly divided over issues including immigration, feminism and political corruption, while historically Spain was riven by territorial and independence movements.

The highlight of Leo’s visit to Madrid will be his speech on Monday to a joint parliamentary session of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate — the first by a pope. Such speeches are rare and often become one of the most important of a pontificate.

But Leo will find a highly polarized legislature, with the government Socialist party hammered by a series of corruption scandals. Conservative parties, including the Popular Party and Vox, have called for Sánchez to step down before a general election due by next year, and have roundly criticized his government’s migration policies.

Spain’s Socialist-led government has bucked a general trend in Europe and the United States by announcing it will grant legal status to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants living and working in the country without authorization. Sánchez has highlighted the benefits of legal migration to the Spanish economy with an aging workforce and low birth rate.

Despite some expected protests of Leo’s visit, his speech to parliament in particular is something of a milestone for Spain’s Catholic Church. Shaped by the anticlerical violence of the country’s 1936-1939 civil war, the church has dealt more recently with a credibility crisis over revelations of decades of clergy abuse and cover-up.

And yet there are signs of renewed interest in all forms of spirituality, Christian and otherwise, especially among young Spaniards, said sociologist Narciso Michavila Núñez, president of the GAD3 consulting firm that polls young people about their faith, among other things.

In recent surveys, he said, pollsters are registering newfound interest in faith among Gen Z Spaniards. Michavila and others cite the popularity of Spanish pop star Rosalía’s new hit album “Lux,” which is overtly spiritual.

“The truth from a common view is not that God is in fashion. What is new in this moment, in this visit of the pope, is that God in the Spanish society is not a tattoo anymore,” he said.

Leo pointed to the signs of a spiritual awakening in comments to reporters en route to Madrid. But he also acknowledged that he's facing stiff competition from Bad Bunny, who is holding two concerts this weekend.

“If they are confronted with the question ‘Do you want to go see Bad Bunny or do you want to go to see the pope?’ I think many will see Bad Bunny,” Leo said. “But I think there will also be a few here to see the pope. And that says something, you know.”

In a sign that the clergy sexual abuse crisis continues to overshadow papal trips, Leo confirmed he would meet with survivors during his visit. The Spanish Catholic hierarchy is belatedly reckoning with decades of abuse and cover-up.

“Abuses are still an open wound,” he told reporters.

Spain's king also cited the church’s sexual abuse crisis in the country in his welcome speech, but he insisted such cases “neither are nor can be representative of the immense ecclesial community.”

“Your clarity and firmness, which I also wish to acknowledge, are essential in the process of healing and repairing the harm inflicted: they are essential for the victims, for the faithful, for the church, and for society,” Felipe told Leo, in an apparent reference to a recently launched church-state reparations system for some victims of clerical abuse.

Leo’s trip is the first papal visit to Spain since Pope Benedict XVI came in 2011 for World Youth Day.

After Madrid, the other highlights of the trip include Leo’s visit midweek to Barcelona, where he will celebrate Mass in the Sagrada Familia basilica on the centenary of the death of its famed architect, Antoni Gaudí.

Leo will also fulfill a wish of Francis by ending his visit with a two-day stop in the Canary Islands, the Spanish archipelago closer to Africa than the Iberian Peninsula and a key destination for migrants leaving West Africa.

Leo will meet with migrants and the humanitarian organizations providing care for them. He is expected to toss a wreath of flowers into the sea, in memory of migrants killed during the treacherous Atlantic crossing. He’ll do so from the port in Las Palmas that in 2020 earned the nickname the “Dock of Shame” because thousands of migrants were forced to sleep in the open for weeks on end during a spike in arrivals.

Francis had made reaching out to migrants and refugees a hallmark of his papacy, and Leo has followed suit by demanding dignified treatment of migrants, especially in his native U.S.

“For those of us who are immigrants and find ourselves in this situation of having family far away, someone like the pope — who is an important figure for the entire world — coming here is truly something that makes me say ‘wow,’” said Constantina Nchama, an immigrant from Equatorial Guinea.

“It’s something that happens once in a lifetime,” she said. “I’m very, very excited about that, truly.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Pope Leo XIV talks to Niurka, a mother of two, during his visit to the CEDIA 24 Horas Social Project center in Madrid, Saturday, June 6, 2026, on the first day of a seven-day apostolic journey to continental Spain and Canary Islands. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A group of nuns wait for the arrival of Pope Leo XIV during a prayer vigil with young people at Plaza de Lima in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, June 6, 2026, on the first day of his seven-day apostolic visit to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

People wait for the arrival of Pope Leo XIV during a prayer vigil with young people at Plaza de Lima in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, June 6, 2026, on the first day of his seven-day apostolic visit to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Pope Leo XIV is welcomed by Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, as he arrives at the Royal Palace in Madrid, Saturday, June 6, 2026, on the first day of his seven-day apostolic journey to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV is welcomed by Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, as he arrives at the Royal Palace in Madrid, Saturday, June 6, 2026, on the first day of his seven-day apostolic journey to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV arrives at Madrid's Adolfo Suarez International Airport, Saturday, June 6, 2026, as he starts a seven-day apostolic journey to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV is welcomed by Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia upon his arrival at Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas International Airport in Madrid, Saturday, June 6, 2026, marking the start of his seven-day apostolic journey to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pilgrims walk through Madrid ahead of Pope Leo XIV's visit to Spain, Saturday, June 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Pope Leo XIV talks to journalists aboard the papal flight from Rome to Madrid, Saturday, June 6, 2026, on the occasion of his apostolic journey to Spain. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, Pool)

Visitors pose for photos beside a sign bearing the name of Pope Leo XIV in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, June 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Visitors pose for photos next to a sign bearing the name of Pope Leo XIV in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, June 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Pope Leo XIV arrives at Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, June 6, 2026, at the start of a seven-day pastoral visit to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Pope Leo XIV waves as he leaves after his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, June 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV waves as he leaves after his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, June 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

FILE - Migrants disembark at the port of "La Estaca" in Valverde on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Aug. 26, 2024. Emergency services said the migrants arrived by boat after a 13-day voyage from Senegal. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)

Antoni Gaudí's Basilica of the Sagrada Familia stands at dusk in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, May 30, 2026, ahead of Pope Leo XIV's visit to Barcelona in June. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Pope Leo XIV waves as he leaves after his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, June 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)