A round-up of all the reports and results from this weekend’s Premier League matches. All kick-off times UAE.
SUNDAY
Manchester City 2 Swansea City 1
Man City: Jesus (11', 90'+2)
Swansea: Sigurdsson (81')
• Gabriel Jesus scored twice, including a 92nd-minute winner, as Manchester City climbed to third in the Premier League with a 2-1 victory against a dogged Swansea City.
Jesus, preferred again to top scorer Sergio Aguero, poked home to break Swansea hearts in the dying seconds in what was another eye-catching performance from the talented Brazilian.
It looked like City would be left to rue a host of missed chances when Gylfi Sigurdsson equalised in the 81st minute after Jesus had earlier opened the scoring in the 11th.
City, who should have been out of sight but stuttered in the second half, climb to third, one point adrift of second-placed Tottenham Hotspur while Swansea remain 17th, one point above Hull City in the relegation zone.
* Reuters
Leicester City 0 Manchester United 3
Man United: Mkhitaryan (42'), Ibrahimovic (44'), Mata (49')
• Manchester United continued their push for a top-four finish with a comfortable 3-0 victory at champions Leicester City, extending their unbeaten Premier League run to 15 games.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan open the scoring with a cool finish after he galloped onto Chris Smalling’s header in the 42nd minute and, with Leicester’s defence still recovering, Zlatan Ibrahimovic added a second two minutes later.
Juan Mata stroked home their third goal after some delightful link up play with Mkhitaryan in the 49th and United easily closed out the game against a Leicester side who have yet to score a league goal in 2017.
United stay sixth but have cut the gap to Liverpool and Arsenal, one and two points above them in fifth and fourth respectively, while Leicester are 16th – one point above the bottom three in the relegation zone.
* Reuters
SATURDAY
Chelsea 3 Arsenal 1
Chelsea: Alonso (13'), Hazard (53'), Fàbregas (85')
Arsenal: Giroud (90'+1)
• Eden Hazard scored a sublime solo goal as leaders Chelsea thrust a dagger into Arsenal’s title aspirations with a 3-1 victory at Stamford Bridge.
The Belgian winger left a trail of defenders in his wake to double Chelsea’s lead in the 53rd minute, in between a contentious header by Marcos Alonso and a late lob from Arsenal old boy Cesc Fabregas.
It was Chelsea’s 11th home victory in succession and their 16th win in 18 league games, stretching their lead over third-place Arsenal to a huge 12 points with 14 games of the season remaining.
Chelsea have been close to unplayable since Antonio Conte changed their system during their 3-0 loss at Arsenal on September 24 and it seems only a matter of time until they are crowned champions.
For Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who watched from the stands as he served the third game of a four-match touchline ban, his side’s season is following a wearily familiar pattern.
Arsenal have lost their last five games at the Bridge and had conceded 13 unanswered goals prior to Olivier Giroud’s stoppage-time consolation.
They have lost four of their last nine league games and once again face the prospect of a run-in given suspense only by the tussle for Uefa Champions League places.
* Agence France-Presse
Crystal Palace 0 Sunderland 4
Sunderland: Kone (10'), Ndong (43'), Defoe (45'+1, 45'+3)
• Sunderland produced a remarkable display to crush fellow Premier League strugglers Crystal Palace 4-0 at Selhurst Park.
Sunderland, with just once away league win all season, opened the scoring in the ninth minute through defender Lamine Kone before Didier Ndong added the first of three goals in five frantic minutes.
Jermain Defoe ended the contest before the break with a smart quick-fire double — his 13th and 14th league goals of the season — as Sunderland ran riot against a team managed by their former boss Sam Allardyce.
Sunderland remained bottom of the table but climbed level on points with 19th-placed Palace who have won just once in 10 league games.
* Reuters
Everton 6 Bournemouth 3
Everton: Lukaku (1', 29', 83', 84'), McCarthy (23'), Barkley (90'+4)
Bournemouth: King (59', 70'), Arter (90')
• Romelu Lukaku scored after just 30 seconds, equalling the fastest goal in the Premier League this season, and went on to hammer in four as Everton beat struggling Bournemouth 6-3 amid a goal glut at Goodison Park.
Lukaku’s first minute left-footer matched Pedro’s 30-second goal for Chelsea against Manchester United but the Belgian was far from finished, making the second for James McCarthy and completing a double himself when he latched on to a careless Simon Francis back pass.
Three down at half-time, Bournemouth, without a win in 2017, improved dramatically in the second half, Josh King reducing the deficit just before the hour after fine work from Jack Wilshere and adding another 10 minutes later with a sharp finish.
Yet the hungry Lukaku struck twice more in the final 10 minutes to take his season’s league tally to 16, making him the top-flight’s leading marksman as Ronald Koeman celebrated his 100th Premier League match as a manager.
Bournemouth’s Harry Arter made it 5-3 in the 90th minute but Everton had the final word when Ross Barkley tapped home the ninth goal of the afternoon four minutes into stoppage time.
* Reuters
Hull City 2 Liverpool 0
Hull: N'Diaye (44'), Niasse (84')
• Hull City’s resurgence under new manager Marco Silva continued as goals from Alfred N’Diaye and Oumar Niasse secured a 2-0 victory which leaves Liverpool still waiting for their first league win of 2017.
Whatever the future holds for N’Diaye on Humberside, he is unlikely to have many easier goalscoring opportunities than the one goalkeeper Simon Mignolet gifted him in the 44th minute at the KCOM Stadium on Saturday.
Mignolet dropped Harry Maguire’s header from Kamil Grosicki’s right-wing corner, and although he was pressured by Abel Hernandez, it should have been a routine save.
Instead, the ball fell at the feet of N’Diaye who added to the growing concerns facing Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp as he still awaits his first league victory of the calendar year.
* Agence France-Presse
Southampton 1 West Ham United 3
Southampton: Gabbiadini (12')
West Ham: Carroll (14'), Obiang (44'), Noble (52')
• West Ham United recovered from a goal down to cruise to a comfortable 3-1 Premier League victory away against Southampton.
Southampton’s Italian forward Manolo Gabbiadini, making his debut following his arrival from Napoli, finished superbly from a tight angle in the 12th minute before Andy Carroll levelled with a neat finish two minutes later — his fourth goal in four league games.
Pedro Obiang, provider for Carroll’s goal, put the visitors ahead with a long-range strike in the 44th before Mark Noble’s free kick was deflected off Steven Davies and into the net to condemn Southampton to a sixth defeat in seven league games.
The victory lifted West Ham, winners of six of their last nine league games, to ninth while out-of-form Southampton sit four points and four places below in 13th.
* Reuters
Watford 2 Burnley 1
Watford: Deeney (10'), Niang (45'+2)
Burnley: Barnes (78' pen)
• M’Baye Niang scored one and set up another goal in an eye-catching performance as Watford beat 10-man Burnley 2-1.
Victory for Watford — for whom captain Troy Deeney scored their opener — eased their worries of being dragged into a relegation battle as a second successive win, having beaten Arsenal on Tuesday, sees them 10 points above the drop zone.
Burnley, who had Ireland international Jeff Hendrick sent off in the 6th minute, are nine points above the bottom three but have a measly one point from a possible 33 on their travels this season.
Hendrick was sent off for a horror tackle on Jose Holebas.
* Agence France-Presse
West Bromwich Albion 1 Stoke City 0
West Brom: Morrison (6')
• Midfielder James Morrison scored the only goal of the game early in the first half to earn West Bromwich Albion a 1-0 win over Stoke City at the Hawthorns.
Morrison latched on to Nacer Chadli’s pass to beat Stoke goalkeeper Lee Grant at his far post in the sixth minute.
Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross had a deflected header clip the outside of the post and Joe Allen missed a glorious chance to level matters before halftime.
Stoke kept knocking on the door in the second half and Erik Pieters headed Phil Bardsley’s cross wide with the goal gaping but West Brom hung on to stay eighth in the table, three places above their opponents.
* Reuters
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Middlesbrough 0
Tottenham: Kane (58' pen)
• Harry Kane’s penalty ended Middlesbrough’s resistance as Tottenham’s 1-0 win kept their flickering title challenge alive.
Spurs are nine points off runaway leaders Chelsea thanks to Kane’s second half spot-kick, the players answering manager Mauricio Pocchetino’s demand on Friday to maintain their hold on second place and hope for Chelsea’s form to slump.
Tottenham lost precious ground after being held by Sunderland in their previous game and Middlesbrough were in danger of repeating the trick.
That was until Kane struck in the 58th minute to give the hosts their seventh successive home win and leave Middlesbrough – without a win away since the opening month of the campaign – looking nervously over their shoulders.
Aitor Karanka’s side are just a point above the bottom three.
* Agence France-Presse
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