Narrowing the gap

 

After 30 weeks, with many teams still with games in hand, Liverpool are within one point of Manchester City and with the quadruple still a possibility while Chelsea, with their uncertain future due to sanctions, are in third place. Arsenal lead Tottenham and Manchester United as favourites for Fourth.

Week 21 – The year began with league leaders Manchester City coming from behind to beat 10-man Arsenal 2-1 in a controversial match at the Emirates while Manuel Lanzini scored 2 of West Ham’s 3 first-half goals at Crystal Palace who mounted a late unsuccessful comeback to lose 3-2 and Tottenham broke the deadlock deep into stoppage time to win at Watford. On Sunday, Chelsea came from 2 down to draw 2-2 at home to Liverpool with 2 goals just before the break and Brentford came from behind to send Aston Villa home 2-1 losers while an Anthony Gordon double at Goodison Park was not enough as Everton lost 3-2 to Brighton and Leeds United won 3-1 at home to Burnley. Leicester against Norwich and Southampton against Newcastle were postponed while on Monday evening Manchester United lost 1-0 at home to Wolves.

Week 22 – Before the weekend matches began, in rearranged midweek matches, Brentford suffered a 4-1 loss at Southampton and Tottenham lost 1-0 at home to Chelsea. On Friday evening, Brighton and Hove Albion earned a late 1-1 draw at home to Crystal Palace and on Saturday Manchester City took another step towards the league title with a 1-0 home win over Chelsea while Aston Villa came from 2 Bruno Fernandes goals down to draw 2-2 at home to Manchester United. Watford scored a late equaliser to draw 1-1 at Newcastle while Wolves were 3-1 winners at home to Southampton and Everton’s 2-1 defeat at Norwich resulting in the sacking of Rafa Benitez. On Sunday, Jack Harrison scored a hat-trick for Leeds United who enjoyed a 3-2 win at West Ham while Liverpool put 3 past their visitors from Brentford without reply. Arsenal’s match at Tottenham was postponed due to a shortage of available players.

Week 23 – In midweek matches Chelsea drew 1-1 at Brighton and Manchester United were 3-1 winners at Bretford while Steven Bergwijn scored twice in the last seconds of stoppage time as Tottenham came from 2-1 down to win 3-2 at Leicester. On Friday Josh Sargent scored twice as Norwich City won 3-0 at Watford who ended the match with 10 players while on Saturday Aston Villa were 1-0 winners at Everton and Newcastle enjoyed the same outcome at Leeds. Manchester United scored with the last kick of the game to beat West Ham United 1-0 at Old Trafford while Manchester City drew 1-1 at Southampton and Wolves returned from Brentford with a 2-1 victory. On Sunday Tottenham lost 2-0 at Chelsea and Liverpool won 3-1 at Crystal Palace while Brighton drew 1-1 at Leicester and there was a goalless match between Arsenal and Burnley at the Emirates.

Week 24 – Before the midweek matches began, Watford drew 0-0 at Burnley who were hosts again where they drew 1-1 against Manchester United while Watford lost 1-0 at West ham and Newcastle enjoyed a 3-1 win at home to Everton. On Wednesday Southampton were 3-2 winners at Tottenham while Crystal Palace drew 1-1 at Norwich and Manchester City put 2 past their visitors from Brentford. In a thriller at the Villa, Leeds United took the lead but needed 2 more goals to make up a 2-goal deficit and draw 3-3 with Aston Villa who finished the match with 10 players for whom Jacob Ramsey scored twice while Daniel James netted twice for the visitors and on Thursday it was 1-0 to 10-man Arsenal at Wolves while Diogo Jota scored both goals in Liverpool’s 2-0 win at home to Leicester.

Week 25 – Raheem Sterling netted a hat-trick as Manchester City won 4-0 at Norwich while Southampton drew 1-1 at Manchester United and Leeds lost 3-0 at Everton. Brighton won 2-0 at Watford and Crystal Palace played a goalless match at Brentford while the match between Chelsea and Arsenal was postponed, as Chelsea were winning the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi. On Sunday Tottenham lost to 2 early goals at home to Wolves while West Ham scored in the last minute to draw 2-2 at Leicester and there were 1-0 wins for Liverpool at Burnley and for Newcastle at home to Aston Villa. On Tuesday evening, 10-man Brighton lost 2-0 at Manchester United.

Week 26 – Manchester City levelled from the spot in stoppage time, but Harry Kane completed his brace with the last kick of the match as Tottenham won 3-2 in Manchester while Chelsea scored the only goal of the match in the last minute at Crystal Palace and Liverpool came from a goal down to beat Norwich 3-1 at Anfield. Burnley celebrated a 3-0 victory at Brighton and Southampton were 2-0 winners at home to Everton while Newcastle drew 1-1 at West Ham. Arsenal defeated Brentford 2-1 at the Emirates and Watford picked up a 1-0 win at Aston Villa while on Sunday Manchester United enjoyed a 4-2 win at Leeds and Leicester lost 2-1 at Wolves.

Week 27 – Before the weekend several rearranged matches took place in which Leeds United were smashed 6-0 at Liverpool with Mohamed Salah scoring 2 penalties and Sadio Mane grabbing a late brace while Wilfried Zaha scored 2 late goals as Crystal Palace Walloped Watford 4-1 at Vicarage Road and Tottenham lost 1-0 at Burnley. On Thursday Arsenal came from behind to beat Wolves 2-1 with the last kick of the match at the Emirates. The week’s fixtures began on Friday evening when Norwich lost 2-0 at Southampton and on Saturday Leeds were battered 4-0 at home to Tottenham which resulted in the sacking of Marcelo Bielsa while there were 2-0 away wins for Aston Villa at Brighton and for Newcastle at 10-man Brentford. Manchester City won by a single goal at Everton while Burnley drew 1-1 at Crystal Palace and Manchester United were held to a goalless draw at home to Watford. On Sunday while Liverpool were winning the League Cup on penalties against Chelsea, one goal gave West Ham all 3 points at home to Wolves and in a rearranged match on Tuesday Leicester scored 2 late goals to win at Burnley.

Week 28 – Aston Villa celebrated a 4-0 victory at home to Southampton and Chelsea achieved the same result at Burnley with Kai Havertz netting a brace for the Blues while Leeds United, under new manager Jesse Marsch, lost 1-0 at Leicester. Ivan Toney scored all 3 goals for Brentford at Norwich who hit back with a single goal in the last minute while Crystal Palace scored twice to win at Wolves and Newcastle netted 2 early goals as they enjoyed a 2-1 home win against Brighton. West Ham lost 1-0 at Liverpool while on Sunday Manchester City triumphed 4-1 over their neighbours Manchester United with Kevin de Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez scoring 2 goals each and Arsenal were 3-2 winners at Watford. On Monday evening Everton came unstuck 5-0 at Tottenham for whom Son Heung-min and Harry Kane scored 2 apiece.

Week 29 – Several matches were played on Thursday. Watford fell apart 4-0 at Wolves and Leeds suffered a 3-0 loss at home to Aston Villa while Newcastle came from behind to win 2-1 at Southampton and Chelsea were 3-1 winners at Norwich. On Saturday Tottenham lost 3-2 at Manchester United with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring all 3 goals for the Red Devils while Ivan Toney scored a late double as Brentford picked up a 2-0 home win over Burnley who had a player dismissed in stoppage time and Liverpool scored twice without reply at Brighton. On Sunday Newcastle fell to a last-minute goal at Chelsea while Cucho Hernandez netted a brace as Watford won 2-1 at Southampton and West Ham enjoyed the same result at home to Aston Villa. Norwich levelled at Leeds in stoppage time but the host made it 2-1 with the last kick of the match while 10-man Everton lost 1-0 at home to Wolves and Arsenal were 2-0 winners at home to Leicester. On Monday evening league leaders Manchester City drew 0-0 at Crystal Palace.

Week 30 – On Wednesday Liverpool narrowed the gap at the top to one point with a 2-0 win at Arsenal while Tottenham were 2-0 winners at Brighton and on Thursday 10-man Everton defeated their visitors from Newcastle with the winner coming deep into stoppage time. The Friday evening match saw Leeds United score in added-on time as they came from 2 down to win 3-2 at 10-man Wolves. With the quarter finals of the FA Cup taking place, there was only one match on Saturday in which a single goal gave Arsenal a win at Aston Villa and on Sunday Son Heung-min scored twice as Tottenham enjoyed a 3-1 win at home to West Ham and Leicester defeated Brentford 2-1 at the King Power Stadium.