Only a 4 point difference between the third and seventh placed teams in the Premier League. This tells us how tight the race for the Champions League spot is this season. United and Southampton slipped, while Arsenal climbed up to the take the third spot. Manchester City were rampant against Newcastle at the weekend, when the league leaders Chelsea got caught up in a 1 – 1 draw.
Yes, lots of movement in the top half of the table at the weekend. Jose Mourinho’s team were held at the Stamford Bridge by Burnley and the Portuguese manager was furious with a lot of decisions by the match referee including the 69th minute red card to Nemanja Matic. The lead at the top of the table is reduced to five points as Manchester City registered a 5 – 0 victory over Newcastle in the late kick off on Saturday. David Silva ran the whole show at the Etihad and he is easily one of the best players in the league at the moment.
Manchester United are among the most unpredictable teams at the moment. The Red Devils traveled to South Wales on Saturday to face Garry Monk’s Swansea City. Although LVG’s men scored first and were undoubtedly the better side, they returned back home without any point. Jonjo Shelvey was at his best and helped his side to record their second victory over United in this campaign. The game ended 2 – 1 in favor Swansea City.
Arsenal continued their fantastic form in the second half of the season with a win at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace. Wenger’s men have reached the Champions League place and they will do everything in their power to stay there. The Saints are one of the closest competitors of the North Londoners and the next few matches will be the most crucial ones for all these teams. On Sunday, Southampton invited Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool to the St. Mary’s and the visitors returned back with all three points. Sterling and Coutinho scored a goal each as the score after the final whistle was 2 – 0.
Another interesting fixture of this game week was the tie at White Hart Lane. Sam Allardyce’s men did very well to get ahead of Mauricio Pochettino’s team, but the Spurs came back from behind to draw the game 2 – 2. Harry Kane couldn’t convert a penalty in the dying minutes of the game, but he scored on the rebound.
Sunderland held Tony Pulis’ West Brom in a goalless draw and Steve Bruce’s Hull City defeated QPR at home. Tim Sherwood’s first outing with his new club, Aston Villa ended in a loss. The Villans hosted Stoke City at the Villa Park and they even went ahead in the 20th minute as Scott Sinclair scored the opener. Stoke came back from behind and won 2 – 1 and Villa’s woes were enhanced when the Dutch defender, Ron Vlaar got sent off.
Everton have now drawn ten and lost ten matches in this campaign. They are currently twelfth in the league table after a 2 -2 draw with Leicester City.