Premier League: Manchester City go three points clear at top; Leicester win at Fulham

Leicester remain third in the table after Liverpool's shock loss at home to Brighton, which has left Jurgen Klopp's side seven points behind City, in fourth, having played a game more.

It has been just as good a night for Sporting Life readers as it has City fans with our top tipsters coming up trumps to land some great profit.

Our team backed under 2.5 goals in City's 2-0 win at Burnley at 7/5 and recommended a two-point stake on the Foxes to beat Fulham at evens as well as tipping Everton at 9/5 to bounce back from their first weekend defeat to Newcastle by winning at Leeds.

Results

• Burnley 0-2 Manchester City
• Fulham 0-2 Leicester City
• Leeds 1-2 Everton
• Liverpool 0-1 Brighton
• Aston Villa 1-3 West Ham

Burnley 0-2 Manchester City

Manchester City reopened a three-point gap at the top of the Premier League as they beat Burnley 2-0 for a 13th straight win in all competitions.

It was routine stuff for a City side in ominous form going into Sunday’s meeting with Liverpool as Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling put them in control before the break, the only complaint being their failure to add to the lead in the second half.

Burnley are without a win over City since March 2015, and any hopes they might have had of ending that run at the 14th attempt were all but extinguished less than three minutes in.

Nick Pope has been talked up as England’s best option for the European Championships but did himself few favours with the way he pushed Bernardo Silva’s shot stright into the path of Jesus, who gratefully nodded home.

The second goal eventually arrived seven minutes before the break when Mahrez found Ilkay Gundogan in space and his low cross left Sterling with the easiest of tasks to finish.

The hosts rarely looked like troubling a City defence who registered a sixth consecutive league clean sheet.

Fulham 0-2 Leicester City

Kelechi Iheanacho’s first Premier League goal of the season helped Leicester return to winning ways with a routine 2-0 victory at struggling Fulham.

In the absence of striker Jamie Vardy, the Foxes had earned just one point from matches against Everton and Leeds, but they bounced back at Craven Cottage.

Iheanacho headed in a James Maddison cross to give his side the lead in the 17th minute.

Just before half-time, Maddison provided his second assist of the match, playing in James Justin, who rounded the keeper before tapping home to finish a fine move.

After a disappointing week for Fulham when crucial games at Brighton and West Brom ended in draws, Scott Parker’s men remain without a win in 11 league matches, since the reverse fixture in November when Fulham won 2-1 at the King Power Stadium.

The result helped Leicester stay five points behind leaders Manchester City, while Fulham remain seven points from safety.

Leeds 1-2 Everton

Dominic Calvert-Lewin got back on the goal trail as Everton held on to win 2-1 at Leeds and climb up to fifth in the Premier League.

The striker notched his first goal in eight league games to take his tally for the season to 12 after captain Gylfi Sigurdsson had given the visitors an early lead.

Andre Gomes’ excellent ball set Lucas Digne free down the left and the Frenchman’s cross was turned neatly home first time by Sigurdsson, who charged on to the ball between three static defenders.

Sigurdsson’s corner took a deflection off Ben Godfrey’s shoulder and Calvert-Lewin stole in at the far post to head home and give his side a 2-0 half-time lead.

The Toffees rode their luck after Raphinha pulled one back for Leeds soon after the interval, but held on to register a fourth successive away win in the league for the first time since 1985.

Leeds hit the woodwork twice through Ezgjan Alioski and Patrick Bamford, while Carlo Ancelotti’s side were also indebted to a superb triple save in the second half from goalkeeper Robin Olsen, who was deputising for the injured Jordan Pickford.

Liverpool 0-1 Brighton

Liverpool’s home league record has collapsed from unbeaten in almost four years to defeats in back-to-back matches as Brighton followed Burnley in leaving Anfield with a 1-0 victory.

A fortnight ago, a 68-game run was ended by the Clarets and this was a similar story as Jurgen Klopp’s side dominated possession but lacked a cutting edge.

The visitors created the best chances and the margin of victory could have been greater but Steven Alzate seized the moment with his first Premier League goal in his 28th appearance 11 minutes into the second half.

Liverpool, who have dropped points against five of the bottom six, were without goalkeeper Alisson Becker due to a non-Covid-related illness but the concerns were at the other end of the pitch.

Klopp’s wait for a 100th win at Anfield continues while the Seagulls made it four league matches without conceding having taken 10 points from 12 and beaten the defending champions, Tottenham and Leeds along the way.

The victory, their first at Anfield since March 1982, owed much to the organisation which Graham Potter has drilled into the Seagulls, defending en masse and then committing players to attack when they had the chance to take the game to the hosts.

Klopp’s side missed the thrust of Sadio Mane, whom the manager will hope has recovered from a muscle injury in time for the visit of Manchester City on Sunday, as they cannot afford another off-day against the league leaders.

Defeat dropped Liverpool to fourth and left them seven points behind City, who have a match in hand, while Brighton are 10 points clear of the bottom three.

Aston Villa 1-3 West Ham

Jesse Lingard struck twice on his debut as West Ham beat Aston Villa 3-1 to maintain their European charge.

The on-loan Manchester United forward netted a brace in his first Premier League game since July to help inspire victory at Villa Park.

• Can West Ham reignite Jesse Lingard?

It came in front of the watching England boss Gareth Southgate as Lingard looks to resurrect his international career. The 28-year-old has not played for the Three Lions since 2019.

Tomas Soucek opened the scoring as the Hammers clung on to fifth place ahead of Everton and they are now just two points behind Liverpool after the champions’ defeat to Brighton.

Villa, who slipped to a fourth league defeat in six games, remain ninth. Ollie Watkins grabbed a late consolation but Dean Smith’s side often struggled to handle the organised and vibrant Hammers.

The Hammers pounced after 51 minutes when Michail Antonio held the ball up for Said Benrahma to cushion a first-time pass to Soucek and the midfielder steadied himself before drilling in low across Emi Martinez.

Five minutes later a quick break from Benrahma, after Watkins lost the ball on the edge of his own area, ended when Antonio clipped over to Lingard and he beat Martinez.

Villa looked to have set up a tense finale when Watkins finished off Jack Grealish’s pass with nine minutes left but Lingard had the final say two minutes later when he combined with Antonio again to drill through Martinez’s dive.

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