EPL round-up: Leicester and Arsenal at the top, Manchester clubs and Mourinho’s Chelsea drop pace

Xherdan Shaqiri inspired the hosts to a convincing 2-0 victory in blustery conditions at the Britannia Stadium.

Stoke City's Marko Arnautovic scored two goals in the first 15 minutes to hand a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City on December 05, 2015. Carl Recine / Reuters

Swansea City 0 Leicester City 3

Jamie Vardy missed two good chances to extend his goalscoring streak to 12 straight games but a Riyad Mahrez hat-trick sent Leicester back to the top of the league.

Vardy fired an early effort straight at Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, then blazed a late effort over the bar as it was left to the Algerian to seal a 3-0 win at the Liberty Stadium.

And it proved enough for the Foxes to return to the top of the table after Manchester City were beaten 2-0 by Stoke in the lunch-time kick-off at the Britannia Stadium.

Mahrez took just five minutes to put his side in front when he converted a Marc Albrighton free-kick then he increased their lead after 22 minutes from a cross by N’Golo Kante.

Ki Sung-yueng struck the bar at the start of the second half for the home side but Mahrez sealed a win which will heap more pressure on Swans boss Garry Monk when he slotted home from Vardy’s neat pass in the 67th minute.

Photo gallery: Chelsea fall flat, Arsenal roll and Manchester United jeered at Old Trafford

Stoke City 2 Manchester City 0

Xherdan Shaqiri inspired Stoke City to a convincing 2-0 victory over Manchester City in blustery conditions at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.

Stoke tore the visitors apart in the first 15 minutes, Swiss Shaqiri, known as “The Alpine Messi”, twice setting up Marko Arnautovic to score from close range.

The hosts missed chances to secure a more emphatic win and Austrian Arnautovic could have completed a hat-trick on the stroke of halftime but hit the post after being released by Shaqiri.

A lacklustre Manchester City were missing key players including striker Sergio Aguero and midfielder Yaya Toure due to injury.

Manchester United 0 West Ham 0

Manchester United were booed off yet again as they played out their sixth goalless draw of the season against West Ham.

United failed to fully capitalise on Manchester City’s defeat at Stoke as they missed several chances to earn a much-needed win.

Marouane Fellaini struck the woodwork in the first half and had a shot saved from three yards by Adrian after the break while Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard and Bastian Schweinsteiger all spurned good opportunities in front of goal.

This was not a lucky afternoon for West Ham, however. They could have just as easily registered their first win at Old Trafford since 2007.

The visitors struck the woodwork twice and Victor Moses should have scored when clean through.

Mauro Zarate also somehow screwed his shot wide from close range after being played in by Andy Carroll.

Arsenal 3 Sunderland 1

Arsenal were not at their free-flowing best against Sunderland, but still produced a match-winning performance that moved them up to second.

Olivier Giroud had scored an own goal on the stroke of half-time to cancel out Joel Campbell’s opener, but the Frenchman went on to convert Aaron Ramsey’s cross to notch his 10th of the season before the Welshman scored late on for a 3-1 win.

Mesut Ozil was again a joy to watch, his displays all the more important for manager Arsene Wenger with Alexis Sanchez injured, but other than that the Gunners were fairly average. Ozil has 12 assists in 14 games now.

The Germany midfielder lay on a beautiful pass for Campbell to put the hosts ahead and continued to torment Sam Allardyce’s side all afternoon.

West Brom 1 Tottenham Hotspur 1

Tottenham extended their unbeaten run to 14 games to set a new club record in the Premier League as they were held 1-1 at West Brom.

Spurs have not lost in the league since the opening day and it is now their longest run without defeat in the top flight since a 14-game streak in 1985.

Dele Alli enhanced his growing reputation when he volleyed in after 15 minutes in front of watching England manager Roy Hodgson.

But James McClean levelled with his first goal since February and Spurs were indebted to Hugo Lloris for a wonderful reaction stop to deny Jonas Olsson in the second half.

West Brom silenced Harry Kane as the striker was restricted to just one second-half chance which he failed to convert while Saido Berahino – who threatened to strike after Tottenham’s deadline day bids were rejected by West Brom in the summer – was an unused substitute.

Watford City 2 Norwich City 0

Watford climbed into the top half of the table after a 2-0 victory over Norwich at Vicarage Road.

Captain Troy Deeney scored for the fourth consecutive game as he converted from the penalty spot in the first half before Odion Ighalo completed the win in injury time.

The Hornets moved up to ninth in the table while Norwich, with just one victory in their last nine league outings, are 16th.

It was Norwich, 3-0 winners both home and away against Watford in the Championship last season, who enjoyed the best of the early exchanges.

But as the half wore on, the hosts began to take a stranglehold on what was turning out to be a rather scrappy affair before the breakthrough came from the penalty on the half-hour mark when Ighalo was brought down.

Ighalo appeared to double his side’s advantage with the interval approaching, but his effort – teed up by an Allan Nyom header – was ruled out for offside. Television replays suggested it was the wrong decision.

But in the 91st minute, Ighalo finally got the goal he deserved, holding off the challenge from Sebastian Bassong, before slipping the ball under the legs of Declan Rudd.

Chelsea 0 Bournemouth 1

Chelsea were plunged into crisis once more as Bournemouth claimed the biggest win of their campaign with a 1-0 triumph at Stamford Bridge.

Jose Mourinho thought the reigning champions had turned a corner with their form, but Eddie Howe’s visitors inflicted an eighth defeat of the season, the fourth at home.

Glenn Murray headed in moments after coming off the substitutes’ bench and, while there may have been a hint of offside, the visitors deserved their win in front of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who could yet wield the managerial axe.

Diego Costa started as a substitute for a second straight game but, unlike at Tottenham Hotspur, the striker was not left to brood for the entire 90 minutes and came on at half time.

Costa’s presence was limited until he fouled Adam Smith, was denied a penalty when his cutback hit Simon Francis on the arm and then was shown a yellow card for a foul on Matt Ritchie in quick succession.

Southampton 1 Aston Villa 1

Southampton halted a run of three straight defeats but had to come from behind to secure a draw at home to struggling Aston Villa.

Joleon Lescott gave the visitors an undeserved lead and exceptional opportunity with a goal in the first half, but they remain bottom of the league after substitute Oriol Romeu secured a 1-1 draw.

In the three games since the appointment of Remi Garde at Villa, the Frenchman has overseen two defeats and a draw and from the team which lost 3-2 at home to Watford came in Rudy Gestede, Leandro Bacuna, Jores Okore and Lescott.

Diego – Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE