Liverpool Remain Unbeaten and Spurs Scrap a Win

sadio mane goal norwich
Returning from injury, supersub Sadio Mané scored the winner over Norwich. Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images

It was another eventful weekend in the Premier League. This was the second weekend of the winter break, which saw the remainder of the teams that weren’t in action last week playing.

Much of the attention over the weekend centered around the UEFA charge handed to Manchester City. However, the Citizens game was postponed last weekend, due to weather conditions. They were scheduled to face West Ham and the game will happen this Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Liverpool had the chance to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table. They did not fail once again, even though they had to sweat to beat relegation favorites Norwich City.

Norwich City 0 X 1 Liverpool

Liverpool’s unrelenting charge towards the Premier League title continued on Saturday evening as they extended their lead to a massive 25 points from Manchester City.

The Reds were made to work incredibly hard to get the win, and didn’t score the opener until 12 minutes from time. The only goal of the game was scored by Sadio Mane.

This means Liverpool now only need five wins from their 12 remaining fixtures to secure their first top-flight title in 30 years. They can be champions already in March if they win the next 5 matches.

Norwich would have felt that they deserved a point from the game, as they smashed the post in the second half before Mane’s opener. The Reds are now unbeaten in 43 Premier League games, which means they are just six away from the record set by Arsenal.

Liverpool can match the Manchester City record of 18 consecutive wins in a row when they take on Watford next weekend. Now they will head to Madrid this week, to face Atletico on the Champions League knockout stages.

Aston Villa 2 X 3 Tottenham Hotspur

The match of the weekend came from Villa Park on Sunday afternoon. A a defensive mistake by Bjorn Engels ensured that Aston Villa suffered a 3-2 defeat.

The home side went ahead in the first ten minutes as Toby Alderweireld put the ball into his own net. The Belgium international made up for his mishap by scoring at the right end less than 20 minutes later.

Spurs then went ahead on the brink of hall-time as Heung Min-Son tucked up the rebound following his penalty miss. Engels put Villa back in terms early in the second half, before he failed to control a ball in the dying stages to let Son through one-on-one with Pepe Reina.

The South Korean made no mistake when given the opportunity as he calmly placed the ball into the bottom corner. The win means that Jose Mourinho Spurs are just a point behind Chelsea in the fourth spot now.

Tottenham faces RB Leipzig at home this Wednesday for the Champions League.

Arsenal 4 X 0 Newcastle United

Steve Bruce’s poor record against Arsenal continued in the second game on Sunday as he watched on as his Newcastle team were beaten 4-0.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put the Gunners ahead after 54 minutes. Summer signing Nicolas Pepe doubled the lead two minutes later.

Newcastle could have gotten back into the game, but Allan Saint-Maximum smashed the post.

Arsenal scored two further goals in injury time. Mesut Ozil came back on the scoresheet, more than 1500 days after his last goal.

The other was scored by Alexandre Lacazette, as Mikel Arteta earned just a second league win.

Southampton 1 X 2 Burnley

Burnley eased their relegation chances on Saturday afternoon as they produced a great display at St Mary’s.

The traveling side went ahead after two minutes through Ashley Westwood, before Danny Ings leveled the scores 15 minutes later.

However, Burnley continued to push on looking for the winner, and that dually arrived with 30 minutes remaining. Matej Vydra scored his first goal on the season and Hasenhüttl’s Southampton’s revival is on hold.

Sheffield United 2 X 1 Bournemouth

The first round of winter break fixtures took place on the previous weekend, and Sheffield United were the big winners on that occasion as they moved up to fifth with a home win over Bournemouth.

Callum Wilson put the Cherries ahead, but goals from Billy Sharp and John Lundstram turned the game on its head. The defeat means Bournemouth remains in the midst of a relegation battle.

Meanwhile, the Blades get closer to the European places. They are currently 6th and they can dream with an Europa League spot next season.

Everton 3 X 1 Crystal Palace

Carlo Ancelotti has quietly been doing an excellent job at Goodison Park, and Everton is now just five points off the top four.

Bernardo, Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s goals gave them a 3-1 win over Crystal Palace. Christian Benteke did pull one back for the Eagles, but his first goal of the season wasn’t enough to rescue a point.

Brighton & Hove Albion 1 X 1 Watford

Two struggling sides met at the Amex on the first round of the fixture of the winter break. However, they couldn’t be separated, and both remain in danger of being relegated this season.

Abdoulaye Doucoure put the Hornets ahead after 20 minutes before an own goal from Adrian Mariappa salvaged a point for the home side.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 X 0 Leicester City

Wolves and Leicester have hopes of crashing the top six-party this season, and neither side would have complained about a point on Friday evening. Both sides had their chances, but the match itself was a bit of a damp squib.

Hamza Choudhury saw red with 15 minutes remaining. Wolves did get a goal on the back of the net, but Wily Boly was ruled offside by VAR.

Leicester remains in third and Wolves sit in seventh.

Chelsea x Manchester United

At Stanford Bridge, Ole and Frank Lampard will go head to head this Monday. Check out the scoreline in our live Premier League schedule.

About Alex Dudley 35 Articles
Alex has travelled the world covering major sporting events for various websites and publications. He has attended football European Championships, Rugby League and Union World Cups, and the Paralympics. Along with this Alex has covered big wrestling, horse racing and boxing events. His work can be found in the Express & Star, WWE Kids Magazine, or online with the Football Faithful, and The Local. Alex also works closely with betting companies such as Betfair, Coral and Betway to produce compelling sports content for their exclusive blogs.

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