LONDON (AP) ― Fernando Torres scored his second double of the week and Chelsea’s search for a Premier League win under Rafa Benitez ended with a 3-1 win at Sunderland on Saturday.
Mikel Arteta’s pair of penalties secured Arsenal’s victory over highflying West Bromwich Albion.
Chelsea halted a seven-game winless run in the league ― three under Benitez.
Torres, who scored twice in midweek as the defending champions exited the Champions League, scored his first domestic goals in two months at Sunderland and then set up Juan Mata after the break.
Chelsea remains third but went seven points behind leader Manchester United, which is at second-place Manchester City on Sunday.
Arsenal rose from 10th to sixth after Arteta scored twice from the spot in a 2-0 victory over fifth-place West Brom.
Queens Park Rangers remains stuck at the bottom without a win after being held to a 2-2 draw at Wigan. But Southampton climbed out of the relegation zone and moved past Wigan on goal difference by beating Reading 1-0.
Aston Villa is between between Wigan and Southampton after being held to a 0-0 draw at home by Stoke, which had defender Ryan Shotton sent off in stoppage time for a second bookable offense.
Reading and QPR were joined by Sunderland in the drop zone after the northeast side helped Chelsea to bounce back from its European setback.
Unlike Torres’ goals against FC Nordsjaelland, which couldn’t help Chelsea progress in the Champions League, his double on Saturday were crucial.
The Spain striker volleyed the ball into the net with the studs of his boot in the 11th minute at Sunderland.
And he converted his first penalty kick in English soccer on the stroke of halftime after Seb Larsson had fouled Ramires as the ball was just about to go out for a goal kick.
Swansea, Arsenal’s conquerors last weekend, lost for the first time in six weeks on Saturday as Norwich won 4-3 in south Wales.
A Swansea fan was later arrested for allegedly making a racial gesture toward Norwich defender Sebastien Bassong.
Germany
Bayern Munich won 2-0 in Augsburg to extend its lead in the Bundesliga as defending champion Borussia Dortmund went down 3-2 with 10 men at home against Wolfsburg on Saturday.
Goals from Thomas Mueller and Mario Gomez helped to lift Bayern 11 points ahead of second-placed Bayer Leverkusen, which plays on Sunday in Hannover.
In Dortmund, the defending champion got off to a fast start, with Marco Reus scoring from a free kick in the sixth minute, but Wolfsburg pulled level half an hour later when Marcel Schmelzer was sent off for handling and Diego converted the resulting penalty.
Naldo volleyed Wolfsburg in front before half time, but Jakub Blaszczykowski canceled it out from the penalty spot in the 61st after Robert Lewandowski was pushed down by Simon Kjaer.
But Wolfsburg went in front again when Bas Dost slotted home past Roman Weidenfeller, and the team rose to 14th.
Vedad Ibisevic scored a hat trick for Stuttgart in a 3-1 victory over Schalke 3-1.
