With the World Club Cup recently added to
their trophy cabinet, Liverpool ended 2019 with a seemingly unassailable lead
in the Premier league leaving a blue trail of Leicester City, Manchester City
and possibly Chelsea fighting for the runner-up place.
Week 11 –
Liverpool turned defeat into a 2-1 victory with 2 late goals at Aston Villa and
Manchester City also came from behind to win 2-1 at home to Southampton while
Chelsea won 2-1 at bottom of the table Watford. Arsenal could only manage a 1-1
draw at home to Wolves and Manchester United were 1-0 losers at Bournemouth
while Everton scored in a lengthy stoppage-time period to draw 1-1 at home to
10-man Tottenham. John Lindstram scored twice as Sheffield United put 3 past their
visitors from Burnley before the break and Newcastle were 3-2 winners at West
Ham while Norwich lost 2-0 at Brighton and Leicester won by the same scoreline
at Crystal Palace.
Week 12 – Champions,
Manchester City, lost 3-1 at league leaders Liverpool and moved down to 4th
place after 2-0 home wins for Leicester against Arsenal and Chelsea over
Crystal Palace. Manchester United defeated Brighton 3-1 at Old Trafford while
Aston Villa were beaten 2-1 at Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham were embarrassed
3-0 at Burnley. Sheffield United, who had a goal controversially disallowed by
VAR, drew 1-1 at Tottenham while there were 2-1 wins for Everton at Southampton
and Newcastle who came from behind to get the better of their visitors from
Bournemouth. The weekend had begun on Friday evening with the basement battle that
saw 10-man Watford win 2-0 at Norwich City.
Week 13 – The
were 2-1 wins for Manchester City at home to Chelsea and Liverpool away to
Crystal Palace while Leicester City were 2-0 winners at Brighton. West Ham
United pulled 2 goals back in front of their home crowd but lost 3-2 in Jose Mourinho’s
first match in charge of Tottenham while Arsenal needed a last-gasp goal to
draw 2-2 at home to troubled Southampton and Everton lost 2-0 at home to
Norwich. Burnley buried Watford 3-0 at Vicarage Road and Wolves were 2-1
winners at 10-man Bournemouth while on Sunday Manchester United came from 2
down to lead with 3 goals in 7 minutes but were pegged back to 3-3 at Sheffield
United and on Monday evening Newcastle lost 2-0 at Aston Villa.
Week 14 – Manchester
City dropped points as hosts Newcastle United twice came from behind to earn a
2-2 draw while 2 Virgil van Dijk headers gave 10-man Liverpool a 2-1 home win
against Brighton and Leicester City came from behind to win 2-1 at home to
Everton with a goal late in stoppage time that keeps them in second spot. A Dele Alli double helped Tottenham to a 3
goal lead at home to Bournemouth who reduced the deficit with a brace from
Harry Wilson and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit back twice as Arsenal drew 2-2
at Norwich in Freddy Ljungberg’s first match as interim manager for the Gunners
after the sacking of Unai Emery while Chelsea lost 1-0 at home to West Ham.
Crystal Palace were 2-0 winners at Burnley while Watford took the lead but lost
to 2 late goals at Southampton and Sheffield United drew 1-1 at Wolves. Aston
Villa drew 2-2 at Manchester United.
Week 15 – In
midweek matches Everton came unstuck 5-2 at Liverpool, which resulted in the sacking
of Marco Silva, with Divock Origi scoring twice for the Reds while Leicester
were 2-0 winners at home to Watford and Gabriel Jesus scored twice as
Manchester City eased 4-1 past their hosts Burnley. Marcus Rashford netted twice
as Manchester United defeated Tottenham 2-1 at Old Trafford while Chelsea
enjoyed the same result at home to Aston Villa as did Southampton at home to
Norwich City. Bournemouth lost 1-0 at 10-man Crystal Palace and Wolves put 2
past their visitors from West Ham without reply while on Thursday evening
Arsenal sank to a 2-1 defeat to Brighton at the Emirates and Newcastle were 2-0
winners at Sheffield United.
Week 16 – In
the Manchester derby City suffered a 2-1 loss at home to United while a double
from Jamie Vardy helped Leicester City to a 4-1 victory at Aston Villa and
Liverpool helped themselves to 3 goals at Bournemouth. Dominic Calvert-Lewin
struck twice as Everton sent Chelsea home 3-1 losers while Harry Kane netted a
brace as Burnley were battered 5-0 at Tottenham and Crystal Palace played a
goalless match at Watford. Newcastle came from a goal down to win 2-1 at home
to Southampton as did Sheffield United away to Norwich City while Diogo Jota
scored both goals for Wolves who drew at Brighton. On Monday evening Arsenal
came from a goal down to win 3-1 at West Ham with 3 goals in the space of 9
minutes.
Week 17 –
Kevin de Bruyne struck twice as Manchester City outclassed Arsenal 3-0 at the
Emirates while Mohamed Salah scored both goals in Liverpool’s home win over
Watford and Leicester were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Norwich. One goal was
enough to give Bournemouth a victory at Chelsea while West Ham enjoyed the same
scoreline at Southampton as did Burnley at home to Newcastle United. Aston
Villa fell to a John Fleck double at Sheffield United while Everton returned
from Manchester United with a 1-1 draw and Tottenham were 2-1 winners at
Wolverhampton Wanderers. On Monday evening, Brighton drew 1-1 at Crystal
Palace.
Week 18 –
While Liverpool were winning the World Club Cup in Doha with a 1-0 extra-time
victory over Flamengo from Brazil, the 2 teams directly below them met at the
Etihad with Manchester City coming from behind to beat Leicester 3-1. Ten-man Tottenham
lost 2-0 at home to Chelsea with Willian scoring both goals for the visitors
while Manchester United lost 2-0 at bottom of the table Watford and Danny Ings
netted twice for Southampton who triumphed 3-1 at Aston Villa. With their impending
managers watching on, Everton and Arsenal played out a goalless draw while
Wolves came from behind to win 2-1 at Norwich and Crystal Palace lost 1-0 at
Newcastle. Burnley scored late to break the deadlock at Bournemouth and
Sheffield United picked up 3 points with a single goal at Brighton.
Week 19 – On
Boxing Day the top two met at Leicester where newly crowned World Club champions
Liverpool thrashed their hosts 4-0 with Robert Firmino helping himself to a
double, while Southampton triumphed 2-0 at Chelsea and Newcastle were humbled
4-1 at Manchester United for whom Anthony Martial netted a brace. Mikel Arteta
began his reign as Arsenal manager with a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth while a late
goal gave Everton all 3 points at home to Burnley in Carlo Ancelotti’s fist
game in charge of the Toffees and Tottenham came from behind for a 2-1 home win
over Brighton. Norwich lost 1-0 at Aston Villa while Watford drew 1-1 at
Sheffield United and Crystal Palace came from a goal down in front of their
home crowd to beat West Ham 2-1 with a last-minute winner. On the next day,
Manchester City, who were reduced to ten men for most of the match, took a two-goal
lead through a Raheem Sterling double, but returned from Wolves with a 3-2
defeat.
Week 20 – In the last weekend of the year, Chelsea beat Arsenal
2-1 with a late comeback at the Emirates while Tottenham came back twice to
draw 2-2 at Norwich and goals at the end of each half gave Manchester United a
win at Burnley. Leicester City’s 2-1 win at West Ham turned out to be Manuel
Pellegrini’s last match in charge of the Hammers while Bournemouth lost 2-0 at
Brighton and Crystal Palace drew 1-1 at Southampton. A Dominic Calvert-Lewin
double gave Everton a 2-1 win at Newcastle and Troy Deeney scored twice for ten-man
Watford who embarrassed Aston Villa 3-0 at Vicarage Road while a single goal at
Liverpool gave the league leaders 3 points against Wolves and in the last Premier
League match of the decade, Manchester City were 2-0 winners at home to Sheffield
United.
