Leicester
City were given a English Premier League reality check when the unlikely
leaders lost 1-0 at Liverpool on Saturday after Manchester United slumped to a
third consecutive league defeat to pile more pressure on manager Louis van
Gaal.
Arsenal then
wasted a Boxing Day opportunity to knock Leicester off the top of the table
when they were out-thought, outmuscled and outplayed as Shane Long scored twice
in a shock 4-0 romp for mid-table Southampton.
Christian
Benteke's second-half goal sealed the points at Anfield as Leicester suffered
their first league defeat since September, when they lost to Arsenal, who could
replace them at the top if they beat Southampton later on Saturday.
Third-placed
Manchester City closed in on Leicester by crushing lowly Sunderland 4-1 and
Tottenham Hotspur consolidated fourth place as Harry Kane scored twice in a 3-0
home victory over Norwich City.
Leicester,
who failed to score for the first time this season and suffered only their
second loss, have 38 points from 18 matches with Arsenal on 36, Manchester City
on 35 and Tottenham 32.
All eyes
were on Manchester United's under-pressure manager Louis van Gaal in the first
game of the hectic holiday period and Stoke comfortably won 2-0 at the
Britannia Stadium to condemn United to another damaging defeat.
Goals from
Stoke forwards Bojan Krkic and Marko Arnautovic left United down in sixth place
after they lost four consecutive matches in a single season for the first time
since 1961.
Guus
Hiddink's second spell as Chelsea's interim manager began with a 2-2 draw at
home to Watford.
Oscar wasted
the chance to secure victory for the champions when he missed a late penalty at
Stamford Bridge and Chelsea remained in 15th place.
Crystal
Palace drew 0-0 with Bournemouth, moving above Manchester United into fifth
spot.
At the
bottom, Aston Villa drew 1-1 with West Ham United to leave manager Remi Garde
still awaiting a first win since taking over from Tim Sherwood.
Managerless
Swansea City won for the first time since October, beating West Bromwich Albion
1-0 to climb out of the relegation zone above Norwich and Newcastle United.
Newcastle
dropped into the bottom three, behind Norwich on goal difference, after losing
1-0 to Everton following a last-gasp Tom Cleverley winner.
0 comments:
Post a Comment