Category: English Premier League

City had to come from behind twice to earn a point, Brentford were impressive at home again and Aston Villa edged past Southampton

Paul MacInnes on an important topic – how clubs are squeezing the pips of fans.

It is time for unity.

Jeremy Boyce gets in touch: “Looking forward to your MostlyPremierLeagueClockwatch. There could be plenty of slapstick, given the weather conditions, and possibly a custard pie in the face for are they/aren’t they ? Citeh at Selhurst Park, one of the most difficult grounds to get to I can remember from my days following Shrewsbury Town round the 2nd and 3rd division in London back in the day (Griffin Park (RIP), Brisbane Road (RIP), The Old Den (RIP) etc.... Thanks for the update on my other team, NotAsNastyAsTheyUsedToBeLeeds.”

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The way things have been going for Pep Guardiola, this could have been much worse. With his side having twice fallen behind to a Crystal Palace side brimming with renewed confidence, the Manchester City manager saw Erling Haaland end his mini drought with a 13th Premier League goal of the season before Rico Lewis equalised again to end the losing run of five successive away matches.

Even if this was another afternoon to forget for the underperforming Kyle Walker, whose mistakes helped Daniel Muñoz and Maxence Lacroix establish the lead, City will be thankful to have emerged with something after Lewis was shown a second yellow card in the later stages.

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• Safety risk at Goodison Park with rain and 70mph wind
• Leaders left with little leeway in their packed calendar

Liverpool are facing acute ­fixture congestion after Saturday’s ­postponement of the Merseyside derby because of Storm Darragh. Should the Premier League leaders win their Carabao Cup quarter-final at Southampton on 18 December they will have a midweek game every week until mid-February, with the exception of new year.

That would leave them with little leeway in a packed calendar to face Everton for the 245th edition of the derby and the final one in the league at Goodison Park. Liverpool’s next game will be against Girona in the Champions League on Tuesday with Everton travelling to Arsenal next Saturday.

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Dribbling runners such as Tyler Dibling are exhilarating to watch, and a reminder that football always finds new forms

The Premier League has got more exciting. And it’s fine, really. For the more grudging among us it can be hard to accept this at face value, if only because the league is always telling you how exciting it already is, the regular in-house TV hosts styling the whole experience with the glazed and proselytising look of shopping channel presenters trying to sell you a hamper of executive cheese.

But sometimes the hamper of cheese is just good. The games are exciting right now. The median standard of teams is high. Financial power, improved scouting, the presence of clued-up global data nerds mean even the weaker teams are studded with mindbogglingly good footballing hyper-athletes. Ah yes, club that was quite recently in League One and represented on the pitch by men who look as if they’ve just been dishonourably discharged from the navy. You appear to have signed a 21-year-old Paraguayan genius made entirely from elastic and feathers.

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Leaders Liverpool travel to Goodison Park bidding for a 100th victory in the Merseyside derby against Everton

Saturday 12.30pm TNT Sports 1 Venue Goodison Park

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Teenage defender Dean Huijsen became Bournemouth’s youngest Premier League goalscorer by heading his side to victory over Tottenham at the Vitality Stadium.

Andoni Iraola’s Cherries had upset title hopefuls Arsenal and Manchester City in two of their previous three fixtures on home soil.

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Alex Iwobi scored twice as Fulham marched into the top half of the Premier League with a win over Brighton at Craven Cottage.

The Cottagers were pegged back after Iwobi’s quickfire opener by Carlos Baleba’s fine strike early in the second half. But Matt O’Riley’s own goal gifted them the lead again and Iwobi hit his second to ensure Brighton have still never beaten Fulham in the Premier League.

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Southampton’s captain, Jack Stephens, was sent off for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair as the Premier League’s bottom club were thrashed 5-1 by high-flying Chelsea.

The defender Stephens was dismissed in the 39th minute having tugged the curls of Cucurella during an inexplicable moment of madness.

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• Salah scores twice in 3-3 draw at Newcastle
• Slot: ‘We expect he can continue this for a long time’

Arne Slot hinted that Mohamed Salah and Liverpool could yet find a way to extend their relationship beyond the end of this season after the Egypt right winger scored twice, created another goal and hit the bar in the Premier League leaders’ 3-3 draw at Newcastle.

It took the league’s leading scorer’s tally to nine in the past seven games and, in the aftermath of an utterly brilliant, game-changing second-half performance, Liverpool’s manager was fulsome in his praise for Salah.

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Aston Villa scored three first-half goals as they recorded their first win since October with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Brentford at Villa Park.

Villa’s last win came against Fulham 46 days and eight games ago but they jumped back into the top half of the Premier League table with a scintillating first 45 minutes.

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Manchester City snapped out of their downward spiral as they roared back into life with a convincing 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest.

Goals from Bernardo Silva, a rejuvenated Kevin De Bruyne and Jérémy Doku saw the champions finally get back to winning ways after an alarming run of six defeats in seven games in all competitions.

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Arsenal reduced Liverpool’s lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points with a crucial win against Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium.

After Fabian Schär’s late equaliser denied Liverpool victory at St James’ Park, Mikel Arteta’s team were offered the chance to inch closer to the summit.

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Everton hit four past Wolves as they racked up their biggest home win since April 2019 to ease some of the growing pressure on their manager Sean Dyche.

The Premier League’s joint-lowest scorers suddenly found their fortunes had changed as Ashley Young scored his first goal in more than two years just eight months short of his 40th birthday to kick-start a vital victory.

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As a smile spread slowly across his face, Mohamed Salah kissed the club crest adorning his rain sodden red shirt. The Egyptian’s ninth goal in seven Premier League games, and second on the night, had not merely reinforced Liverpool’s title challenge but strengthened the case for offering a forward who, right now, could probably walk unaided on the River Nile, a lucrative contract extension at Anfield.

Not that Salah was the only man improving his negotiating position as Fabian Schär’s late equaliser ensured one of the games of the season, if not the decade, ended with honours even as Arne Slot’s league leaders’ winning run was finally halted.

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A perfect start for Ruud van Nistelrooy in his first match in charge of the Foxes

The goal stands! Vardy goes racing off to celebrate, belatedly, and the King Power roars! Not a bad start to the Van Nistelrooy era, huh?

3 min: … but VAR are checking it, because Mavropanos might have been playing Vardy onside. This is going to be very tight. In fact, the naked eye suggests this goal will stand. But we await the rulers.

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