April 11 (Reuters) - Arsenal suffered a painful blow to their Premier League title hopes with a 2-1 home defeat nL1N40U04X by Bournemouth, while in the battle of unlikely top-five contenders Brentford and Everton battled out a 2-2 draw on Saturday.
Alex Scott's winner for Bournemouth at The Emirates threw the title race wide open as leaders Arsenal laboured to a first league defeat in nine games.
The London club remain nine points clear of second-placed Manchester City, but Pep Guardiola's side have two games in hand starting with Sunday's trip to Chelsea and host Arsenal next weekend.
"Extremely disappointing. It's a big punch in the face," Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said. "We were very far from the level that we're expecting, that's for sure."
In their first Premier League match for almost a month, Arsenal could have built a 12-point cushion with six games left to play, but could have few complaints as Bournemouth emerged with a deserved three points to boost their European hopes.
Bournemouth took the lead when 19-year-old Eli Junior Kroupi turned in a deflected cross at the far post in the 17th minute.
The French youngster has now scored 10 times in the top flight this season -- the first teenager to reach that mark in his debut campaign in the Premier League since Robbie Keane for Coventry City in the 1999-2000 season.
Arsenal struggled to respond but got a helping hand when Bournemouth's Ryan Christie was adjudged to have blocked a shot with his arm, allowing Viktor Gyokeres to equalise from the spot in the 35th -- his 11th goal in all competitions this year.
The anxious hosts huffed and puffed in search of a winner and Gyokeres had a goal disallowed but it was Bournemouth who struck again as Scott was played in by Evanilson and finished calmly past David Raya in the 74th minute.
INTRIGUING BATTLE FOR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SPOTS
With UEFA confirming that the top five clubs in the Premier League will all qualify for next season's Champions League, the battle to join Europe's elite is set for an intriguing finale with several outsiders still in the frame.
Brentford were tipped as relegation contenders at the start of the season after losing some of their top players and seeing manager Thomas Frank depart to Tottenham Hotspur.
But under Keith Andrews they have prospered and are putting pressure on the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool.
They will be kicking themselves though after twice leading against Everton but only taking a point.
Igor Thiago's double took his top-flight tally this season to 21, making him the highest-scoring Brentford player in a single Premier League campaign, overtaking Bryan Mbeumo and Ivan Toney who both hit 20.
But Everton's Beto cancelled out Thiago's opener and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored a stoppage-time equaliser for the visitors.
The result left Brentford and Everton in seventh and eighth spots respectively with 47 points from 32 games.
Fifth-placed Liverpool have 49 ahead of their late kickoff against Fulham who are also in the mix for Europe.
Brighton & Hove Albion kept their own European ambitions alive as they beat Burnley 2-0 with a double from Mats Wieffer at Turf Moor, which moved his side to 46 points.
It was a third successive league win for Brighton while second-from-bottom Burnley look almost certain to be relegated as they are 12 points off the safety zone with six games left.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)
