Premier League round-up: Advantage Liverpool as Manchester City lose to Leicester

Premier League results

• Fulham 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
• Burnley 1-5 Everton
• Crystal Palace 0-0 Cardiff City
• Leicester City 2-1 Manchester City
• Liverpool 4-0 Newcastle United
• Manchester United 3-1 Huddersfield Town
• Tottenham Hotspur 5-0 AFC Bournemouth
• Brighton 1-1 Arsenal
• Watford 1-2 Chelsea

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Successive defeats for City as Leicester deliver Boxing Day shock

Manchester City's Premier League title challenge took another blow at the King Power Stadium on Boxing Day as they were beaten 2-1 by Leicester.

After losing at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday, Pep Guardiola's team now find themselves seven points behind leaders Liverpool and in third place after Tottenham's victory against Bournemouth.

City were unable to hold onto the lead given to them by Bernardo Silva, which sent the hosts out to 25/1 with Sky Bet to win before Marc Albrighton quickly equalised. Ricardo Pereira's 81st-minute strike proved to be the winner for Leicester.

City's misery was compounded further by Fabian Delph's last-minute red card.

Opta facts

• This is the first time Man City have lost consecutive Premier League games since December 2016, with the second defeat in that run also coming away against Leicester.
• Leicester have won their last two Premier League games against ‘big six’ opposition, as many as they had in their previous 19 in the competition (W2 D2 L15).
• Manchester City have conceded a goal from their first shot faced in three of their last four Premier League matches (vs Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Leicester).
• With Ricardo Pereira scoring for Leicester, and Bernardo Silva netting for Man City, this was the first time a Premier League match saw a Portuguese player score for both sides.

Liverpool extend lead at top

Liverpool piled the pressure on defending champions Manchester City as they extended their lead over their Premier League title rivals with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Newcastle.

While Pep Guardiola's side were slipping to third place after a second-successive surprise defeat - this time at Leicester - the Reds barely got out of second gear in dispatching the struggling visitors.

Dejan Lovren's brilliant 11th-minute half-volley set the tone and after a soft penalty given for a foul on Mohamed Salah enabled the Egypt international to score his 15th of the season, Xherdan Shaqiri and Fabinho completed the rout.

City, whom Liverpool face at the Etihad Stadium on January 3, are now seven points off the pace with Tottenham now the nearest challengers at six behind.

Opta facts

• Liverpool are only the fourth Premier League team to be unbeaten at the halfway stage of a season, along with Arsenal in 2003-04, Man Utd in 2010-11 and Man City in 2017-18.
• Jurgen Klopp registered his 100th win as Liverpool manager in all competitions in his 181st match as Reds boss.
• Mohamed Salah has been involved in 35 goals in 28 home Premier League games for Liverpool (25 goals, 10 assists).
• Xherdan Shaqiri has scored four goals in his last four Premier League matches – one more than he managed in the 20 prior to this run (3).

Free-scoring Spurs leapfrog City

Tottenham continued their brilliant festive period with a 5-0 rout over Bournemouth that takes them above Manchester City into second in the Premier League.

Spurs came into the game on the back of the 6-2 mauling of Everton on Sunday and again brought their shooting boots as Christian Eriksen, Son-Heung Min (2), Lucas Moura and Harry Kane found the net at Wembley.

It gave them an eighth Premier League win from the last nine games and keeps them firmly in the title race, still six points behind leaders Liverpool.

So much for Spurs becoming distracted at speculation linking boss Mauricio Pochettino to Manchester United. Since Jose Mourinho's Old Trafford exit not only did they thrash Everton but also beat Arsenal 2-0 in the Carabao Cup.

Opta facts

• Tottenham are still without a draw after 19 Premier League games this season – the last team to have as long a wait for a draw in a top-flight season were Arsenal in 1983-84 (also 19 games).
• Bournemouth have conceded 22 goals in their seven Premier League games against Spurs, at an average of 3.1 per game.
• Eddie Howe has lost six Premier League games against Tottenham, only losing more against Man City (7).
• Christian Eriksen has scored 18 Premier League goals from outside the area – the most of any Tottenham player in the competition’s history.
• Tottenham’s Heung-Min Son has had a hand in 10 goals in his last nine Premier League appearances (7 goals, 3 assists).
• Spurs youngster Kyle Walker-Peters is the youngest player (21y 257d) to provide three assists in a Premier League game since Jermaine Pennant (20y 227d) in August 2003 for Leeds against Middlesbrough.

Pogba scores twice as United make it back-to-back wins under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Old Trafford return ended in another victory for Manchester United's caretaker manager as a Paul Pogba brace helped see off spirited Huddersfield.

Charged with injecting new life into United's ailing season following Jose Mourinho's dismissal, Solskjaer's side failed to reach the heights scaled at Cardiff yet ended up with another comprehensive Premier League win.

The 45-year-old received a superb reception as he returned to Old Trafford as the club's manager, 11-and-a-half years after representing them as a player, and oversaw a 3-1 win against Huddersfield as Pogba's pair complemented Nemanja Matic's first-half goal.

It could have been a different story had captain David De Gea not produced an outstanding stop to deny Laurent Depoitre levelling during a spell in the ascendancy for David Wagner's strugglers. Huddersfield would beat the United goalkeeper, but Mathias Jorgensen's effort was only a consolation.

That late goal, and the Terriers' time on top, underlined the work still required at United, but the fans' appreciation was as audible as it was understandable after flashes of excitement at a ground where there has been precious little.

Opta facts

• Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is just the fifth Manchester United manager to win both of his first two league matches in charge, after TJ Wallworth, Matt Busby, Dave Sexton and Jose Mourinho.
• Huddersfield Town have failed to keep a clean sheet in each of their last 15 away games against Man Utd in league competition (45 goals conceded).
• Man Utd’s Jesse Lingard has been directly involved in six goals in his last five appearances in the Premier League (4 goals, 2 assists), assisting in consecutive games for the first time in his top-flight career.
• Man Utd’s Paul Pogba has been directly involved in four goals in two Premier League games under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (2 goals, 2 assists), the same total he had registered in his last 12 games under Jose Mourinho (1 goal, 3 assists).

Ton-up Hazard guns down Watford

Eden Hazard passed a century of Chelsea goals with a match-winning double in the Blues' 2-1 Premier League victory at Watford.

Chelsea's talisman forward has had a direct hand in a league-high 19 goals in 18 league games this term, and his Vicarage Road brace dragged the Blues back to winning ways.

Hazard opened the scoring with his 100th Chelsea strike, showing typically impressive composure in front of goal to round Ben Foster and tap home.

The 27-year-old then buried a penalty he had won by drawing a foul from Foster to put the Blues back ahead after Roberto Pereyra's snap volley had levelled the scores just before half-time.

Opta facts

• Chelsea have only lost one of their seven Premier League games against opponents that started the day in the top 10 this season (W3 D3), with that lone defeat coming against Spurs in November (1-3 at Wembley).
• After losing just three of their first 13 home league games under Javi Gracia (W8 D2), Watford have since lost three of their last four (W1).
• Chelsea are unbeaten in their last 14 Premier League games played on Boxing Day (W9 D5), since a 2-4 loss at Charlton in 2003-04.
• Only Brighton (5) have conceded more penalties than Watford (4) in the Premier League this season, with three of those being converted.
• Eden Hazard became the 10th different player to have scored 100 goals in all competitions for Chelsea (now on 101).

Everton hit Burnley for five

Everton scored three times in the opening 22 minutes at Turf Moor to end a winless five-match run and push Burnley deeper into trouble.

Any lingering negativity from the Toffees' 6-2 hammering by Tottenham on Sunday was swept aside inside two minutes as Yerry Mina headed in his first goal in English football and Marco Silva's side went on to triumph 5-1.

Lucas Digne curled in a superb free-kick 11 minutes later and Ben Mee's handball allowed Gylfi Sigurdsson to net the third from the spot.

Ben Gibson pulled one back before half-time on his first Premier League start for Burnley following double hernia surgery but any hopes of a second-half comeback were ended by Digne's second in the 71st minute, with Richarlison adding a fifth in injury time.

Opta facts

• Burnley have already conceded 41 goals in the Premier League this season after 19 games, two more than they shipped in the whole of last season (39).
• Everton have scored five goals in an away Premier League game for only the third time ever and the first time since a 5-2 win at Sheffield Wednesday in April 1996.
• Yerry Mina’s opener (1m 39s) was the quickest Premier League goal by an Everton player since Tom Davies scored against Leicester after 30 seconds in April 2017.
• Five of the eight goals scored by Everton’s Lucas Digne in Europe’s big five leagues have come from outside the box, including each of his three for the Toffees.

Fulham unfortunate as points shared in early kick-off

Wolves midfielder Romain Saiss scored his maiden Premier League goal to deny struggling Fulham what would have been only their third victory of the season.

The Cottagers were leading through substitute Ryan Sessegnon's second-half strike and six minutes from registering a vital win in their survival bid.

But Moroccan international Saiss had other ideas to snatch a 1-1 draw for the visitors and leave Claudio Ranieri's side, who started the day in bottom spot, still deep in trouble.

Only three sides in Premier League history have avoided relegation having been bottom of the table on Christmas Day, and Fulham will have to improve at both ends of the pitch if they want to become the fourth.

Arsenal frustrated at the Amex

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struck his 13th Premier League goal of the season but a defensive error once again proved costly for Arsenal as Brighton recovered to claim a 1-1 at the Amex Stadium.

Aubameyang fired the Gunners in front after just seven minutes but Stephan Lichtsteiner's failure to deal with a long ball forward handed Jurgen Locadia the chance to level 10 minutes before the interval with his his first goal since February.

Both sides had opportunities to secure three points in the second half but the visitors were left ruing the failure to close to within four points of third-placed Manchester City.

The clash provided another winner too, as our tipster George Pitts backed Arsenal to take more corners on a -1 handicap at 21/20.

Opta facts

• Brighton have lost just two of their last 12 Premier League home games, winning five and drawing five.
• Arsenal failed to score in the second-half for the first time in their last 17 Premier League games, since losing to Chelsea on August 18th.
• Since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s debut for Arsenal in February, no duo has combined for more Premier League goals than the Gabonese striker and Alexandre Lacazette (6, level with Bouremouth’s Wilson and Fraser and Tottenham’s Kane and Eriksen).
• Brighton’s Jurgen Locadia scored for the first time in his last 18 Premier League games, since scoring on his debut in the competition in February against Swansea City,
• On his 28th birthday, Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey made his 250th Premier League appearance, becoming the eighth Welshman to hit that milestone (also Ryan Giggs, Gary Speed, Robbie Savage, Simon Davies, Mark Hughes, Craig Bellamy and James Collins).

Stalemate at Selhurst

Cardiff resisted intense pressure to secure only their second Premier League point away from home this season in a goalless draw at Crystal Palace.

The Bluebirds were hammered 5-1 by Manchester United on Saturday and could have lost just as heavily at Selhurst Park but goalkeeper Neil Etheridge's resilience, Palace's unconvincing finishing and some desperate defending earned them a point.

Roy Hodgson's team came into the match on the back of a 3-2 win at defending champions Manchester City, but if they finally felt in position to push up the table they wasted the finest of opportunities against opponents who offered little in the attacking third.

Opta facts

• Crystal Palace mustered 31 shots in the game, their highest tally of shots in a Premier League game since 2003-04.
• Crystal Palace’s 31 shots was the joint-most Cardiff have ever faced in a Premier League game, level with their clash with Norwich City in October 2013 which also ended 0-0.
• This game was the first-ever Premier League meeting between two managers aged over 70, with Cardiff boss Neil Warnock aged 70y 25d and Crystal Palace’s Roy Hodgson aged 71y 139d on the day of the game.

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