There was another twist in the title race, Spurs displaced Aston Villa to move into fourth while two of the bottom three picked up points. It was a busy weekend in the Premier League. Here’s a look at the biggest talking points from across the English top-flight.
By Sam McGuire, Premier League expert
The champions show their teeth
Crystal Palace stunned Manchester City at Selhurst Park when a rare John Stones error was capitalised on and Jean-Philippe Mateta gave the hosts the lead inside of four minutes.
Pep Guardiola’s side could’ve been rocked by the early goal. They weren’t.
It could’ve been a tricky situation for the champions. It wasn’t.
Kevin De Bruyne levelled things up with just 13 minutes on the clock and Rico Lewis struck early on in the second half.
Goals from De Bruyne and Erling Haaland in a four minute spell killed the game off before the 70th minute and though Odsonne Édouard scored a consolation, it was a resounding victory for the visitors.
The three points heaped pressure on Arsenal and Liverpool while the Eagles remain uncomfortably close to the relegation zone.
Villa salvage a point
It was a topsy-turvy game for Aston Villa at Villa Park on Saturday afternoon against Brentford.
Ollie Watkins, back in the team after missing the midweek game match against Manchester City, opened the scoring late in the first half to give the hosts the lead. Morgan Rogers then added a second just after the break to put Unai Emery’s side in a commanding position.
It looked fairly comfortable for the home side for the best part of an hour. And then it all went wrong.
The visitors hit three unanswered goals across a nine minute spell to turn the game on its head. Zanka, Bryan Mbeumo and Yoana Wissa found the back of the net for the Bees.
However, Thomas Frank’s side couldn’t see out the game and Watkins scored his second of the game, and his 18th of the season, with 10 minutes remaining to salvage a point.
With Tottenham’s win over Forest on Sunday evening, Villa now find themselves outside of the Champions League places having played a game more. Brentford, despite now being on a three match unbeaten run, are just four points above the drop zone.
Everton finally win
For the first time this year, Everton won in the Premier League.
It wasn’t a pretty game. It wasn’t necessarily a convincing performance by the hosts at Goodison Park, but Sean Dyche managed to get one over on his former employers on Saturday afternoon.
Burnley had more of the ball (63%) but struggled to create anything of note against a resolute Toffees team. Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored what turned out to be the winner in first half stoppage time.
Everton are now four points above the relegation zone and up to 15th. Burnley, however, remain 19th, five points off of 17th placed Nottingham Forest with time running out if they are to remain in the Premier League.
Arsenal reclaim top spot
The Gunners are relentless right now. They are once again leading the pack in the English top flight after a resounding 3-0 win over Brighton at the Amex. It is hard to see them relinquishing top spot now, especially in the form they are in.
Mikel Arteta’s men coasted to maximum points against Roberto De Zerbi’s side on Saturday evening. Bukayo Saka converted from the spot with 33 minutes on the clock. It was a deserved lead after carving out four big chances before the break.
Kai Havertz, who also claimed an assist, scored the second just after the hour mark before former Seagull Leandro Trossard added a third to cap off an outstanding showing by the Gunners. For context, they finished with an Expected Goals haul of 3.39 while limiting their hosts to chances with an xG value of 0.53.
Arsenal are joint-top with Liverpool but have a far superior goal difference (+51 to +42). The Gunners are just seven wins away from the Premier League title now.
Deja vu at Old Trafford
Manchester United and Liverpool played out an almost identical game at Old Trafford to their FA Cup encounter just three weeks ago.
The visitors looked confident and comfortable in the first half, carving out chance after chance but failing to put the game to bed. They went in at the break with a 1-0 lead, courtesy of Luis Díaz, but, in truth, it could’ve quite easily been 3-0.
Then, out of absolutely nothing, United found themselves level. Bruno Fernandes capitalised on a sloppy Jarell Quansah pass and outrageously lobbed Kelleher from just inside the Liverpool half. This woke Old Trafford up and the game was a lot more even after that.
In the 67th minute, youngster Kobbie Mainoo produced a moment of magic to put the hosts ahead, curling the ball into the far corner much to the delight of the home fans.
It appeared as though United might complete another smash and grab victory over Liverpool but an 84th minute penalty salvaged a point for the title hopefuls. Mohamed Salah scored his 17th goal of the season after Harvey Elliott was fouled by Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
(Cover Image from IMAGO)
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