Southampton dashed Arsenal hopes of going top on Boxing Day, Man City closed the gap, Liverpool stunned Leicester, Watford held Chelsea,Stoke shocked United, Totheham thrashed Norwich
Southampton thumped Arsenal 4-0 on Boxing Day as the Gunners missed the chance to move above Leicester City at the top of the Premier League table.
Leicester’s one-goal loss at Liverpool earlier in the day had opened the door for Arsene Wenger’s side, who came into the game on the back of an impressive win against Manchester City.
Else where,Liverpool ended a run of four games without a win as Christian Benteke's second-half strike saw them beat Premier League leaders Leicester City 1-0.
And at the Britannia, Manchester United endured a miserable Boxing Day as they were comfortably beaten 2-0 by Stoke City to leave manager Louis van Gaal on the brink.
The Dutchman finally pulled the trigger to drop captain Wayne Rooney to the bench after weeks of strongly criticised performances but, even without the England skipper, the visitors were torporous and suffered at the hands of a confident Potters team.
Mean while, Manchester City recovered from their disappointing defeat at Premier League title rivals Arsenal with a ruthless 4-1 victory over a hapless Sunderland, but there were concerns as captain Vincent Kompanylimped off on his comeback from injury.
Manuel Pellegrini's side were beaten 2-1 at Emirates Stadium on Monday in a defeat that left them six points adrift of surprise leaders Leicester City ahead of Saturday's matches.
However, City turned on the style at the Etihad Stadium with the recalled Raheem Sterling and Wilfried Bony part of an excellent attacking unit alongside Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva.
The only concern for Pellegrini will be the sight of Kompany limping off with a seeming recurrence of the calf injury that sidelined him since early November, less than 10 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute.
Also at the Bridge, Oscar missed a late penalty to deny Guus Hiddink a winning start to his second spell in charge of Chelsea as Watford claimed a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge.
The defending Premier League champions beat Sunderland 3-1 last weekend in their first game following the departure of Jose Mourinho - Hiddink had a watching brief from the stands as Steve Holland and Eddie Newton took charge of the first team - and looked set to be maintain that momentum when Diego Costa put them ahead.
And Jordan Ayew's impressive form in front of goal continued, but was only enough to earnAston Villa a 1-1 draw at home to West Ham on Saturday.
Else where, AFC Bournemouth were denied a fourth consecutive victory as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Crystal Palace at the Vitality Stadium.
Also, Harry Kane scored twice in the first half as Tottenham boosted their hopes of a top-four finish in the Premier League with a 3-0 win over Norwich City.
Kane broke the deadlock from the penalty spot after 26 minutes before doubling both his and Tottenham's tally just before the interval with a low drive from a tight angle.
Substitute Tom Carroll added a third in the 80th minute, getting his first Premier League goal with a well-struck shot from outside the area.
Mean while Tom Cleverley scored with the last kick of the game as Everton were belatedly rewarded for their domination of Newcastlewith a 1-0 win at St James's Park.
And finally, Ki Sung-yueng's first-half goal gaveSwansea City a narrow 1-0 win over West Brom at the Liberty Stadium on Boxing Day.
No comments:
Post a Comment