Manchester City saw their winning run end at 18 matches at Crystal Palace on Sunday and were also counting the cost of injuries to Gabriel Jesus and Kevin de Bruyne. Crystal Palace had a chance to claim all three points in the dying moments when Raheem Sterling was adjudged to have fouled Wilfried Zaha in the area. Luka Milivojevic was unable to make the most of the opportunity, his tame kick being driven straight into the legs of Ederson.
Manchester United did not end the weekend any closer to their city rivals following their disappointing 0-0 draw with Southampton at Old Trafford. United lost Romelu Lukaku midway through the match and he is ruled out of today’s match and Zlatan Ibrahimovic has also been ruled out for a month. More concerning for Jose Mourinho was the penalty decision that was not given when Yoshida appeared to handle the ball in the Southampton box. Paul Pogba did have the ball in the back of the net for United but was correctly ruled offside.
Arsene Wenger took charge of his 811th Premier League match against West Bromwich Albion and saw Arsenal take a late lead thanks to a poor Alexis Sanchez free-kick. The lead did not last long as Calum Chambers was penalised, harshly, for handball. Jay Rodriguez scored the equaliser from the spot meaning Petr Cech has to wait until 2018 for his 200th clean sheet.
Virgil van Dijk will have seen exactly what is required of him as Liverpool gifted Leicester City an early lead at Anfield. Joel Matip’s error led to Riyad Mahrez creating an open-goal for Jamie Vardy who continued his scoring run against Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp’s men fought back brilliantly with Mo Salah scoring yet another two goals to move to within three points of Manchester United.
Mark Hughes gambled on leaving out some regular players for their trip to Stamford Bridge, preferring to focus on today’s game with Newcastle United. Chelsea eased to a 5-0 win that saw them move into second place in the table. Hughes could well see his job under threat once again if Stoke fail to beat Rafa Benitez’s men.
Sam Allardyce suffered his first defeat as Everton manager as his team were beaten by a late Ryan Fraser goal at Bournemouth. Fraser had already given Eddie Howe’s men the lead before Gueye equalised for Everton. Fraser was the match winner that saw Bournemouth move up to 14th place in the table.
Carlos Carvalhal made an immediate impact at Swansea City in his first game as their new manager. Watford led Swansea 1-0 at halftime but two late goals from the Swans saw them steal all three points and keep it tight at the bottom of the table.
Burnley were very unlucky not to be awarded a penalty against Huddersfield after Jonas Lossl brought down Jeff Hendrick in the area. Post-match, everyone was in agreement that it was a penalty which was no consolation to Sean Dyche’s men.
Newcastle United and Brighton also played out a 0-0 win to close out their 2017 in minimalist style.
