Blue Moon on the horizon

Manchester City are within touching distance of the Premier League tittle with 8 matches remaining.

Week 20 – Harry Kane scored another hat-trick to become the highest scorer in Europe in 2017 as Tottenham demolished Southampton 5-2 at Wembley om Boxing Day while Liverpool slaughtered Swansea 5-0 at Anfield with Roberto Firmino netting a brace and Chelsea put 2 past Brighton without reply at Stamford Bridge. Burnley had their 2-goal lead at Old Trafford wiped out as Jesse Lingard scored his 2^nd goal of the match in added-on time to give Manchester United a 2-2 draw and in a 6-goal thriller Bournemouth earned a 3-3 draw with a controversial goal in stoppage time at home to West Ham United while Leicester City lost 2-1 at Watford and there was a 1-1 draw between Huddersfield Town and Stoke City and a goalless match for Everton at WBA. On Wednesday evening Manchester City continued their winning ways with a goal at Newcastle and on Thursday evening Alexis Sanchez scored 2 goals in quick succession as Arsenal got the better of Crystal Palace 3-2 at Selhurst Park.

Week 21 – Manchester City’s winning streak came to an end on the final day of the calendar year when they drew 0-0 at Crystal Palace who missed a stoppage-time penalty while West Brom converted a late penalty to earn a 1-1 draw at home to Arsenal and on Saturday Southampton held Manchester United to a goalless draw at Old Trafford while Chelsea pummelled Stoke City 5-0 at Stamford Bridge and Liverpool came back from an early setback to beat Leicester City 2-1 with a double from Mohamed Salah at Anfield. Swansea came from behind with 2 late goals to give manager Carlos Carvalhal a 2-1 winning start at Watford while 2 goals from Ryan Fraser gave Bournemouth the same winning scoreline at home to Everton and there were goalless draws for Burnley at Huddersfield town and Brighton at Newcastle.      

Week 22 – The year began with Bournemouth twice coming from behind to draw 2-2 at Brighton while Liverpool hit back at Burnley’s late equaliser to win 2-1 with the last strike of the match at Turf Moor and Manchester United won with 2 wonder strikes at Everton. Leicester City put 3 past their visitors from Huddersfield Town without reply and a single goal sank Stoke at home to Newcastle while Crystal Palace came from a goal down to win 2-1 at Southampton and West Ham did the same with a double from Andy Carroll at home to West Brom. Manchester City got back to winning ways with a 3-1 victory at home to Watford while Tottenham won their game in hand 2-0 at Swansea on Tuesday and 2 days later drew 1-1 at home to West Ham United. On Wednesday evening Arsenal scored first but needed a stoppage-time goal to draw 2-2 with Chelsea at the Emirates.

Week 23 – Liverpool ended Manchester City’s long unbeaten run with a 4-3 victory at Anfield having scored 3 times in 9 minutes to lead 4-1 until the 84^th minute while on Monday evening Manchester United put 3 past Stoke without reply at Old Trafford but the week began with an early kick-off on Saturday at Stamford Bridge where Chelsea and 10-man Leicester City played out a goalless match. Harry Kane added 2 more goals to his tally as Tottenham eased past Everton 4-0 at Wembley and 2 goals from Manuel Lanzini helped West Ham to a 4-1 routing at Huddersfield Town while Watford came from 2 James Ward-Prowse goals down to earn a 2-2 draw with a last-minutes equalizer at home to Southampton and a single goal gave Crystal Palace a home win over Burnley. Arsenal took the lead but lost 2-1 at Bournemouth while Brighton lost 2-0 at West Brom and Swansea drew 1-1 at Newcastle United.

Week 24 – Manchester City got back to winning ways as they hosted and defeated Newcastle United 3-1 with a hat-trick from Sergio Aguero while a single goal at Burnley gave Manchester United all 3 points and a double from Eden Hazard helped Chelsea to a 4-0 win at Brighton. Arsenal stormed to a 4-1 victory at home to Crystal Palace scoring their 4 goals within the first 22 minutes of the match while there were 2-0 home wins for Leicester over Watford and Stoke City against Huddersfield Town and there were 1-1 draws for Bournemouth at West Ham and West Brom at Everton. On Sunday Tottenham drew 1-1 at Southampton and on Monday evening Liverpool lost 1-0 at bottom club Swansea.   

Week 25 – In midweek matches Bournemouth embarrassed Chelsea 3-0 at Stamford Bridge while Arsenal opened the scoring but fell 3-1 at Swansea who moved off the bottom of the table with 2 goals from Sam Clucas and Manchester United were defeated 2-0 by Tottenham at Wembley. Manchester City picked up another 3 points with 3 goals at home to West Brom and Liverpool enjoyed the same result at Huddersfield while newly signed Theo Walcott scored both Everton’s goals in their 2-1 home win over Leicester. There were 1-1 draws for Crystal Palace at West Ham, Burnley at Newcastle and Brighton at Southampton while Watford played a goalless match at Stoke City.   

Week 26 – A late flurry of goals condemned 10-man Chelsea to a humiliating 4-1 defeat at Watford on Monday evening while at the weekend a last-gasp penalty earned Tottenham a 2-2 draw in a controversial match at Liverpool for whom Mohamed Salah had completed his double in stoppage time and Burnley drew 1-1 at home to runaway league leaders Manchester City. Aaron Ramsey netted a hat-trick as Arsenal demolished Everton 5-1 at the Emirates while West Ham lost 3-1 at Brighton and Stoke took an early lead but lost 2-1 at Bournemouth. Having honoured the late Cyrille Regis at the Hawthorns, WBA lost an emotional match 3-2 to Southampton while 2 goals gave Manchester United a win at home to Huddersfield Town and there were 1-1 draws for Swansea at Leicester and Newcastle at Crystal Palace.

Week 27 – Sergio Aguero ran riot with 4 goals in the 2^nd half as Manchester City demolished Leicester City 5-1 at the Etihad Stadium while Manchester United lost 1-0 at Newcastle and Tottenham got the better of Arsenal with a single goal in the north London derby at Wembley. Crystal Palace lost 3-1 at Everton and West Ham defeated their visitors from Watford 2-0 while Stoke drew 1-1 at home to Brighton having missed a last-minute penalty and Burnley lost 1-0 at Swansea. Steve Mounie netted twice as Bournemouth were thrashed 4-1 at Huddersfield while Liverpool won 2-0 at Southampton and on Monday evening Eden Hazard scored twice as Chelsea ended their losing streak with a 3-0 win over bottom-of-the-table WBA at the Bridge.  

Week 28 – Liverpool romped to a 4-1 victory over West Ham at Anfield while Brighton enjoyed the same result at home to Swansea with a double from Glenn Murray and Huddersfield Town won 2-1 at West Brom. Dwight Gayle scored twice for Newcastle United but Bournemouth scored 2 late goals to earn a 2-2 home draw while there were 1-1 draws for Stoke at Leicester and Southampton who scored a 90^th-minute goal at Burnley. Everton lost 1-0 at Watford while on Sunday Tottenham broke the deadlock to win with a late goal at Crystal Palace and Manchester United came from a goal down to beat Chelsea 2-1 at Old Trafford.  

Having defeated Arsenal 3-0 at Wembley to win the League Cup on Sunday, Manchester City repeated the scoreline in the league at the Emirates on Thursday with all their goals coming in the first half.

Week 29 – Arsenal’s run of poor results continued with a 2-1 loss at Brighton while Chelsea lost to a single goal at Manchester City and Liverpool put 2 goals past Newcastle at Anfield. West Ham United were hammered 4-1 at Swansea while 2 Son Heung-min goals for Tottenham put paid to Huddersfield at Wembley and West Brom lost 1-0 at Watford. Everton took the lead but came unstuck with 2 second-half goals and a late dismissal at Burnley while Leicester earned a 1-1 home draw against Bournemouth with a goal deep into stoppage time and there was a goalless match between Southampton and Stoke City. On Monday evening Manchester United came from 2 goals down to win 3-2 with a stoppage-time winner at Crystal Palace.

Week 30 – In the battle for 2^nd place in the league, a double from Marcus Rashford gave Manchester United a 2-1 home win over Liverpool while Chelsea defeated Crystal Palace by the same scoreline at Stamford Bridger and Arsenal put 3 past Watford without reply at the Emirates. Leicester City bounced back from a goal down to thrash West Brom 4-1 while Tottenham achieved the same result thanks to a brace from Son Heung-min after an early setback at Bournemouth. Amidst disgraceful scenes at the London Stadium, West Ham were humiliated 3-0 by Burnley while Southampton lost 3-0 at Newcastle with Robert Kennedy netting twice for the hosts and Brighton, who ended the match with 10 men, lost 2-0 at Everton. Ten-man Swansea drew 0-0 at Huddersfield Town and on Monday evening Manchester City took a step closer to the league tittle with 2 David Silva goals at Stoke.