Thierry Henry celebrates his first goal against Aston Villa with Sol Campbell (left) and Ashley Cole at Villa Park on Sunday. (Reuters)

London: Arsenal surged back to the top of the Premier League with a comfortable though highly controversial 2-0 away win over Aston Villa on Sunday. A quickly-taken free-kick and a penalty, both by Thierry Henry and both hotly contested, decided the match after Villa had made an encouraging start.

The victory was sweeter for Arsenal as title rivals Chelsea were later held to a goalless home draw by Birmingham City — a day after Manchester United lost 0-1 to lowly Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Arsenal’s win extended their unbeaten run to 22 games and took them to 52 points — two ahead of Manchester United and six clear of Chelsea, who have taken just four points from their last four home games.

Charlton are fourth on 37 after a 1-0 win at Everton on Saturday, five clear of Liverpool, beaten 2-1 at Tottenham Hotspur.

Villa had lost only one previous home league game and began confidently, though they were almost caught out when Robert Pires unleashed a fizzing 25-metre volley which Thomas Sorensen tipped over the bar.

But the Danish goalkeeper wasn’t even looking when Arsenal went ahead in the 28th minute. As Villa were organising themselves to defend a free-kick on the edge of the box, Henry caught them out by taking it quickly — with Sorensen interested only in trying to position his wall, many of whom were not even facing the ball.

Villa protested, in vain, just as they did seven minutes into the second half when the referee awarded a penalty after Nwankwo Kanu ran into Olof Mellberg — Henry converting the spot-kick. Arsenal negotiated the remainder of the match without any major scares but Villa manager David O’Leary was predictably fuming.

“In my opinion it was a joke decision,” he said. “The referee has asked our players to give them 10 yards and wait for the whistle. We did what he said.” He was similarly upset about the penalty decision.

Fulham agree to sell Saha

Louis Saha’s move to Manchester United moved a step closer on Sunday when Fulham said they had agreed in principle to sell the French striker to the champions.

“Fulham Football Club can confirm that it has reached an agreement in principle with Manchester United for the transfer of the registration of Louis Saha, subject to a number of conditions,” the London club said on its website. “We expect these conditions to be resolved within the next week.” (Reuters)