Leicester fall away at The Etihad while Manchester United fall on their own sword at Vicarage Road and Spurs grind out a very Mourinho victory against an old enemy at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
If Christmas is a time for giving, the Premier League has been the place for the most festive of football fixtures. There have been hilarious own goals, massive misses and own goals galore all season, but the most recent gameweek has been fuller than ever.
At Goodison Park, Carlo Ancelotti and Mikel Arteta watched their teams play out a bore draw that condemned both clubs to a stuttering start under new stewardship. Sheffield United and Southampton both earned special away wins, The Saints triumphing at Aston Villa to drag them into the relegation zone while they leapt out of it at their victims’ expense.
Sheffield United’s win has hoisted them up to 5th place in the Premier League on Sunday night – an amazing achievement from a side who were playing Championship football this time last year.
Man. City 3-1 Leicester City
A crucial game in this year’s English Premier League took place on Saturday evening at the Etihad Stadium as Manchester City won 3-1 against a Leicester side whose title challenge now looks to be over.
While Manchester City will be hoping Leicester can beat Liverpool on Boxing Day to give them a shot at being just eight points behind their rivals having played a game more, Leicester themselves know that they must win to have any chance of overhauling The Reds, and even then, it’s highly unlikely.
In truth, though Vardy’s ingenious finish gave The Foxes the lead, The Citizens dominated the game and replied through Riyad Mahrez and a penalty won by Raheem Sterling and converted by Ilkay Gundogan.
Throughout the game, Kevin De Bruyne had orchestrated the action, and his pinpoint cross for Gabriel Jesus at the far post saw the Brazilian end the game as a contest.
Watford 2-0 Manchester United
A drab game at Vicarage Road was brought to life in the second half as Watford scored a freak opener and a devastating second to Manchester United’s hopes of finishing in the top four.
In truth, whoever finishes in 4th spot this season in the English Premier League will be unlikely to ruffle the feathers of Europe’s elite anyway in the greatest club competition in the world, but United certainly do not look ready to take that next step.
United were too timid in the first half, and players such as Scott McTominay, Daniel James and in particular, Luke Shaw, looked tired and physically drained by the recent winning exertions against Spurs and Mamnchester City that yielded six points. Sadly for fans of the Red Devils, those six points equate to almost a quarter of their entire haul after 18 games, just 25 points in the bag and no hope of challenging Chelsea for 4th spot on this form.
After an Ismael Sarr shot was hilariously fumbled by David De Gea in the United goal, Troy Deeney ruthlessly converted a penalty three minutes later to condemn the Red Devils to another defeat, their fifth of the EPL season.
Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Chelsea
Another side who continually frustrate in their pursuit of the Champions League places are Tottenham Hotspur, managed by United’s former boss, Jose Mourinho.
Against Chelsea, Spurs were exposed as pedestrian and too reliant on safe, unadventurous midfielders like Eric Dier and Moussa Sissoko, rather than building an attacking side around the midfield talents of Christian Erikssen.
While Chelsea have retained the services of Callum Hudson-Odoi by playing him, Spurs look determined to do the opposite by confining the Dane to the bench, and they needed his creativity on a day when Willian’s two strikes, one a curling effort into the corner and the second a slickly-converted penalty after a clumsy foul by the Spurs keeper Paulo Gazzaniga on Marcos Alonso.
The second half saw matters get worse when Son Heung-Min was dismissed after VAR review when his reaction at being fouled saw him kick out at Rudiger. And ‘Kick It Out’ was more the topic after racist abuse aimed at Rudiger were reported by Chelsea; a full investigation will be carried out.
For now, Spurs will rue everything on a day when 4th place was in their hands and they ended the day with it further away than before the game kicked off.
Gameweek #18 results:
Everton 0-0 Arsenal
Man City 3-1 Leicester
Bournemouth 0-1 Burnley
Aston Villa 1-3 Southampton
Brighton 0-1 Sheff Utd
Newcastle 1-0 Crystal Palace
Norwich 1-2 Wolves
Watford 2-0 Manchester United
Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Chelsea
