Premier League GameWeek 23 saw Manchester City pull further away at the top of the league table in the aftermath of their victory over defending champions, Liverpool.
NRTC’s sports correspondent – Oladipupo Mojeed – gives us a summary of all the action from Premier League GameWeek 23.
Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal
Ollie Watkins’s early goal was enough for Aston Villa to do the double over Arsenal for the first time since the 1992/93 season.
He scored his 10th league goal of the season just after the first minute. Watkins finished Bertrand Traore’s cutback with a deflected strike for his 10th league goal of the season.
Arsenal struggled to create clear chances in the first half, but Granit Xhaka’s free-kick forced a full-stretch save from Emiliano Martinez.
Mat Ryan – making his Arsenal debut in goal – kept out two efforts from Watkins shortly after half-time as Villa pushed for a second. The Australian also made a good save to deny Jack Grealish with 11 minutes remaining.
Arsenal offered more threat in the second half but substitute Martin Odegaard missed their best chance with six minutes remaining when he shot over.
Villa sits 9th with 35 points while a second consecutive defeat means Arsenal is 11th on 31 points.
Burnley 1-1 Brighton & Hove Albion
Goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was the hero for Brighton as they went a fifth match unbeaten with a draw at Burnley.
Sanchez denied Dwight McNeil’s free-kick and saved an effort from James Tarkowski during the first half.
Brighton went ahead on 36 minutes when Pascal Gross’s corner was headed in by Lewis Dunk.
Sanchez was on hand again to ensure Brighton went into the break in front when he kept out McNeil’s curling effort. Burnley’s perseverance paid off with an equaliser on 53 minutes.
Erik Pieters’ shot was saved by Sanchez but fell to Johann Gudmundsson, who drilled in his first goal of the season. Matej Vydra drew another save from Sanchez on 71 minutes.
Brighton successfully claimed a point that takes them to 25 goals in total. They stay 15th while Burnley are 17th with 23 points.
Newcastle United 3-2 Southampton
Miguel Almiron’s first-half double helped Newcastle beat Southampton at St James’ Park, despite ending an entertaining match with just nine men.
Allan Saint-Maximin squared for debutant Joe Willock to put Newcastle ahead after 16 minutes.
Newcastle doubled their advantage on 26 minutes through Almiron’s deflected low strike. Takumi Minamino fired a high angled shot four minutes later to pull a goal back for the hosts.
Newcastle restored their two-goal lead in first-half stoppage-time when Almiron took advantage of Alex McCarthy’s bad pass.
James Ward-Prowse’s stunning free-kick on 48 minutes revived the Saints’ hopes. Their chances increased further when Newcastle’s Jeff Hendrick received a second yellow card two minutes later.
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Danny Ings hit a post, but Southampton could not find an equaliser despite Newcastle losing another player when Fabian Schar went off injured after all substitutes had been used.
Newcastle sit 16th with 25 points, four places behind Southampton.
Fulham 0-0 West Ham United
The hosts were held to their ninth draw of the season as they were unable to convert dominance into goals at Craven Cottage.
West Ham started brightly, with Jarrod Bowen inches away from connecting with Aaron Cresswell’s 13th-minute cross, before Jesse Lingard set up Tomas Soucek, who headed over.
Fulham’s best first-half chance fell to Ademola Lookman, who shot just wide from the edge of the area. The hosts started the second half brightly with Bobby De Cordova-Reid volleying narrowly over and Ruben Loftus-Cheek finding the side-netting.
Vladimir Coufal hit the bar with a header for the Hammers and Tosin Adarabioyo headed a corner over at the other end before Soucek saw red. This was due to a VAR review in stoppage time for an elbow on Aleksandar Mitrovic.
A fifth away league match unbeaten leaves West Ham 6th place on 39 points while Fulham stays 18th with 15 points.
Manchester United 3-3 Everton
Dominic Calvert-Lewin struck with the last kick of the match to earn Everton a dramatic draw at Old Trafford.
Edinson Cavani headed Marcus Rashford’s cross past Robin Olsen to open the scoring on 24 minutes. United doubled their advantage on the stroke of half-time through Bruno Fernandes’s fantastic curled effort from outside the area.
Shortly after the break, Everton were level with two goals in just over three minutes. Abdoulaye Doucoure capitalised on a David De Gea parry to pull one back and the midfielder then turned provider for James Rodriguez to drill in a shot on 52 minutes.
United restored their lead through Scott McTominay’s header but Calvert-Lewin stretched to poke in Michael Keane’s flick to earn the Toffees a point.
The draw denies United from going level on points with Manchester City at the top of the table. They remain in 2nd place with 45 points while Everton sit 7th with 37 points.
Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 West Bromwich Albion
Harry Kane’s return from injury inspired Tottenham to their first win in four matches.
Kane, who went close three times in the first half, swept in Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s pass on 54 minutes to become Spurs’ joint-second highest all-time scorer. He has a tally of 208 goals in all competitions.
Son Heung-Min – seemingly boosted by his team-mate’s swift recovery from a double-ankle injury – added Spurs’ second goal four minutes later.
Mbaye Diagne had West Brom’s best chance but his first-half header was superbly saved on the goal line by Hugo Lloris.
The victory sees Spurs remain in eighth spot on 36 points. A fourth defeat in five matches leaves West Brom second from bottom.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-0 Leicester City
Leicester City missed the chance to go level on points with second-placed Manchester United as they drew at Wolverhampton.
Wolves started brightly, with Ruben Neves firing over on 11 minutes before Adama Traore, who caused problems with his pace and skill throughout, had a shot deflected wide by James Justin.
Leicester finished the first half on the front foot, as a neat one-two between Harvey Barnes and Kelechi Iheanacho set up James Maddison.
Two substitutes had great chances to earn victory. Wolverhampton’s Fabio Silva had a close-range shot brilliantly saved by Kasper Schmeichel. And Jamie Vardy came off the bench on his return from injury and headed wide in stoppage time.
Leicester remains in third place on 43 points, while Wolves stay in 14th with 27 points.
Liverpool 1-4 Manchester City
Ilkay Gundogan scored two second-half goals as Manchester City claim a top-flight record-equalling 14th successive wins in all competitions.
City had an opportunity to break the deadlock on 37 minutes when Sterling drew a foul from Fabinho, but Gundogan fired his penalty over.
Gundogan made amends for his miss four minutes after the restart, lashing in the rebound after Alisson parried Phil Foden’s shot.
Liverpool equalised on 63 minutes, Mohamed Salah making no mistake from the penalty spot with a thumping finish after the Egyptian had been fouled by Ruben Dias.
But City struck three times in 10 minutes to secure victory. Gundogan was played in by Foden to convert from close range after a defensive mix-up on 73 minutes, before Sterling’s diving header from a poor Alisson clearance made the score 3-1.
Foden completed the scoring in style with a sizzling strike as Pep Guardiola claimed his first win at Anfield.
City moves five points clear at the top of the table and with a match in hand. Liverpool remains fourth, 10 points behind City.
Sheffield United 1-2 Chelsea
Mason Mount’s first-half strike and a Jorginho penalty secured Chelsea’s third straight league victory.
There was an early scare for Chelsea when Oliver Burke was played in by Oliver McBurnie in the first minute but he fired into the side netting.
Chelsea edged ahead on 43 minutes. Ben Chilwell’s weighted pass played in Timo Werner and his precise cutback was met first-time by Mount, who drilled home in style.
Sheffield United were back level after 54 minutes when Antonio Rudiger inadvertently poked the ball past his own goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
Chelsea restored their lead four minutes later when Werner drew a foul from goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale and Jorginho made no mistake from 12 yards.
Chelsea remain unbeaten under Thomas Tuchel and move up to the fifth place with 39 points – one point off the top four. Sheffield United remain at the bottom of the league with 11 points.
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Leeds United 2-0 Crystal Palace
Marcelo Bielsaās men earned a home victory over Palace in the concluding game of Premier League GameWeek 23.
Jack Harrison got Leeds off to a good start with a 3 minute opener when his shot from the edge of the box was aided in by a deflection from Gary Cahill.
Leeds continued to dominate the half and could have doubled their lead but Vincente Guaita denied Patrick Bamfordās header before the Englishman fired over from close range.
Bamford later got his goal 52 minutes on as he doubled the lead for Leeds with his 100th career goal.
Leeds 3rd victory in 4 games moves them up to 10th place while Palace remain 13th with 29 points.
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Premier League games will resume after the midweek FA Cup games. Look out for our preview and predictions for Game Week 24.
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