Christmas is just around the corner and that means the Premier League schedule is becoming more congested with each passing week.
Gameweek 16 kicked off with thrilling meeting between newly-promoted Brentford and Watford on Friday night, before Chelsea and Leeds shared five goals and and Liverpool welcomed back Steven Gerrard back to Anfield as visiting Aston Villa manager.
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Sunday will see Leicester and Newcastle, as well as Burnley and West Ham, square off before the curtain comes down with Crystal Palace vs Everton.
Here’s 90min‘s coverage of the action as it unfolds…
Man City 1-0 Wolves
The first half between Manchester City and Wolves was largely uneventful, with a Ric Flair-esque ‘thumb to the eye’ from Raheem Sterling to Romain Saiss literally the only thing worth writing down.
But that all changed on the stroke of half-time when Raul Jimenez inexplicably got himself sent off for Wolves. First, the Mexican nibbled away at Rodri’s ankles to pick up a yellow card, before he – for reasons unknown – decided not to back away from the free kick and intentionally blocked City’s attempt to restart the game.
What followed was an Oscar-winning performance of throwing both of his gloves on the floor and trundling off in slow motion, after Jon Moss had cautioned him again, to a cacophony of boos from the home support. Truly wonderful stuff.
City were awarded a penalty just after the hour mark after Moss judged Joao Moutinho to have blocked Bernardo Silva’s cross with his arm, which was confirmed after a lengthy VAR check.
Sterling stepped up and scored from the spot to earn his place in the Premier League 100 club and secure the three points.
Read 90min’s player ratings from Man City vs Wolves here.
Arsenal 3-0 Southampton
With three defeats in their last four, Mikel Arteta desperate needed a win to bring the feel-good factor back to Arsenal.
Luckily for him, Southampton again appeared to be in the giving mood on their travels, quickly ensuring that the absence of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang because of a disciplinary breach would not be felt.
Alexandre Lacazette was the player to fire the Gunners ahead against the run of play, and his strike was quickly doubled up by a Martin Odegaard effort.
The lead then stretched to 3-0 in the second half, as Gabriel nodded home Gabriel Martinelli’s cross from close range, and in truth the manner of victory could of been greater as Takehiro Tomiyasu was denied by a good Willy Caballero stop.
Read 90min’s player ratings from Arsenal vs Southampton here.
Chelsea 3-2 Leeds
Thomas Tuchel came into Chelsea’s game against Leeds in the midst of his toughest period in charge of the club.
The Blues had won one of their last four games, conceding three goals in back-to-back games against West Ham and Zenit having previously shipped just ten all season.
At Stamford Bridge, it became 11 conceded just before the half hour mark when Marcos Alonso clumsily brought down Daniel James in the penalty area. That allowed Raphinha to step up and bag his seventh goal of the season from the spot.
But after parity was restored by Mason Mount before half time, Chelsea hit the front thanks to a penalty of their own – converted by, guess who, Jorginho.
Ordinarily you’d expect Chelsea to go on and comortably win the game, but with confidence perhaps a little lacking after recent results, Leeds were able to haul themselves level with seven minutes to go through young Joe Gelhardt.
There was still time for one final twist to the tail, though, as Jorginho netted another penalty in stoppage time after Mateusz Klich was adjudged to have fouled Antonio Rudiger.
Read 90min’s player ratings from Chelsea vs Leeds here.
Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa
After a week full of gushing, sentiment and suffocating clamour to see Steven Gerrard return to Anfield as Aston Villa manager, it was time to get down to business against Liverpool.
For the first hour, everything was going according to plan for Gerrard, as the Reds failed to find their groove with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain operatiing as a false nine. But after his withdrawal, business started to pick up for the home side, and it wasn’t long before magic man Mohamed Salah carved out a glorious opportunity.
Using his other worldly pace, he drew a foul from Tyrone Mings in the penalty area, before coolly slamming the spot kick past the sprawling Emi Martinez.
Read 90min’s player ratings from Liverpool vs Aston Villa here.
Norwich 0-1 Man Utd
Manchester United won three successive Premier League games for the first time since September as a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty made the difference against Norwich at Carrow Road – this was also a second straight 1-0 win for new interim manager Ralf Rangnick.
Both sides had chances to score before and after the goal, with Tim Krul and David de Gea each making important saves. The penalty came when Ronaldo was hauled down by Max Aarons with just over 15 minutes to go and the 36-year-old made no mistake in converting it.
There was still time for Ronaldo to miss a glorious chance to double the lead, firing over from close ranger after he was unable to sort his feet in time. De Gea was also called into action to stop Ozan Kabak from equalising for Norwich in stoppage time.
Read 90min’s player ratings from Norwich vs Man Utd here.
Burnley vs West Ham
When is kick off? Sunday 12 December, 14:00 (GMT)
Where is the match being played? Turf Moor
What TV channel is it on? Sports Sunday (UK), fuboTV (US), DAZN (Canada)
Highlights? Sky Sports YouTube channel (UK), Match of the Day 2 (BBC – UK)
Referee? Graham Scott
VAR? Jon Moss
It’s the battle of claret and blue as West Ham travel to Turf Moor to take on Burnley on Sunday afternoon.
The Hammers rotated heavily in the Europa League on Thursday night and with Burnley without a win in four games, they will confident of keeping their season on the right track here.
Prediction: Burnley 1-3 West Ham
Leicester vs Newcastle
When is kick off? Sunday 12 December, 14:00 (GMT)
Where is the match being played? King Power Stadium
What TV channel is it on? Sky Sports (UK), fuboTV (US), DAZN (Canada)
Leicester’s season is looking pretty bleak, with the Foxes’ poor domestic form compounded by a Europa League exit in midweek.
There is still plenty of talent among their ranks but they need to kickstart the turnaround soon. Newcastle at home could be the ideal fixture to get some momentum back.
Prediction: Leicester 2-1 Newcastle
Crystal Palace vs Everton
When is kick off? Sunday 12 December, 16:30 (GMT)
Where is the match being played? Selhurst Park
What TV channel is it on? Sky Sports (UK), fuboTV (US), DAZN (Canada)
With Tottenham’s meeting with Brighton postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak, the ninth and final fixture this weekend is Crystal Palace vs Everton.
After a flying start the Patrick Vieira revolution has veered off track more recently, and after Everton got a victory over Arsenal last time out they will be a dangerous prospect.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-1 Everton
Brentford 2-1 Watford
It looked like Watford were going to take the three points from this one as they led Brentford 1-0 heading into the final six minutes of the game.
Emmanuel Dennis netted yet again to give the Hornets a lead midway through the first half, but Brentford pushed and pushed and pushed for an equaliser, eventually finding it as the clock ticked over to 84.
Brentford continued to press and won themselves a penalty deep into stoppage time, and up stepped Bryan Mbeumo to send the home crowd wild.
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