In the busy festive period with games coming thick and fast, the Premier League has been as competitive as ever. There were feisty draws, comeback wins and one-sided encounters in Gameweek 19.
Let’s take a look at all the happenings from Gameweek 19 of the Premier League –
Leicester City 0-2 Manchester City
Manchester City finally ended their winless run by beating the Foxes away at the King Power Stadium.
The Cityzens started with intent, their first chance arrived inside ten minutes when Kevin de Bruyne teed up Erling Haaland whose shot was saved by Jakub Stolarczyk’s outstretched leg. Ten minutes later, Jamie Vardy latched onto a poor back pass from Joško Gvardiol but the angle was too tight and Stephan Ortega smothered the ball. But City got the opener in the 21st minute when Phil Foden’s shot from distance was parried off by the Leicester goalie but Savinho smashed the rebound into the net. Haaland had a few chances to double City’s advantage and City survived a scare when Facundo Buonanotte’s header hit the post in the 37th minute. City on the counter had another opportunity to score a second but Haaland and Foden couldn’t combine to get the goal.
At the hour mark, Jamie Vardy headed down in the penalty area with Justin James flick towards goal being saved yet again. Seven minutes later, the Foxes had a glorious opportunity to score when Stephy Mavididi’s curling cross was struck over the post by Vardy from close-range. Leicester paid for their misses in the 73rd minute when Savinho turned provider and floated a cross into the box and an unmarked Haaland pounced on it to head it home. Leicester could hardly create any clear-cut chances to get back in the game and it ended in a 2-0 win to City.
Pep Guardiola would have heaved a sigh of relief as the Cityzens finally got vital three points while the Foxes moved into the bottom three.
Everton 0-2 Nottingham Forest
Everton’s resistance finally ended with Nottingham Forest continuing their unbelievable start to the season with another win away from home.
Iliman Ndiaye’s mazy run and shot over the bar early on was the only decent chance from Everton in the first half which Forest went out to dominate from then on. Chris Wood continued his brilliant campaign, playing a 1-2 with Anthony Elanga before lobbing the ball over Jordan Pickford into the net in the 15th minute to give Forest the lead.
Morgan Gibbs-White doubled his team’s advantage when Wood set him up in the penalty box with him cutting back onto his left foot and slotting home. With Forest sitting back to protect their lead, the Toffees enjoyed plenty of possession and registered 13 shots on goal, but only two of them were on target. Everton also got involved in many feisty tackles and James Tarkowski was lucky to avoid a second yellow.
With this loss, Everton’s four match unbeaten run came to an end and Forest climbed to second spot, five points behind league leaders Liverpool.
Fulham 2-2 Bournemouth
Fulham and Bournemouth played in a highly entertaining draw at the Craven Cottage with the Cherries coming back late to share the spoils.
There was an early scare as a loose back pass from Raúl Jiménez was latched on by Evanilson but Bernd Leno recovered to deny the Bournemouth striker with an outstretched arm. The game broke open in ten minutes with a stinging David Brooks shot from the edge of the area forcing Leno into a diving save, before Kepa Arrizabalaga made a routine stop to keep out Harry Wilson at the other end. The early chances kept coming as Leno stood strong to palm away Evanilson’s powerful effort from a tight angle after the forward had made a clever run behind the Fulham backline. Leno’s best save of the game came on the half hour mark, rushing out to make a big stop from Antoine Semenyo, who shot straight at the Whites goalkeeper in a 1v1 situation. The opening goal arrived for Fulham five minutes before the break as Jiménez rose highest from an Andreas Pereira corner, with his header finding the bottom corner.
Five minutes into the second half, the industrious Evanilson finally got his reward when he finished off a clipped pass from James Hill in an emphatic manner. The Cottagers almost responded immediately but Wilson’s goal-bound shot was stopped by Illia Zabarnyi and Timothy Castagne was denied by Kepa. Wilson, who has scored some really important goals this season, bagged Fulham’s second goal, heading home Antonee Robinson’s cross from the left. Late drama ensued as the visitors equalised in the 89th minute as substitute Dango Ouattara chipped the ball over Leno to deny Fulham the three points.
Crystal Palace 2-1 Southampton
The Eagles came back from conceding an early goal to beat a struggling Southampton at Selhurst Park.
Southampton started well with Tyler Dibling putting the Saints ahead inside 15 minutes courtesy of a mazy run from Kyle Walker-Peters. Palace equalised at the half-hour mark through a Trevor Chalobah header from a corner. However, it took a lengthy VAR check to confirm the goal with Southampton feeling it should have been ruled out for a foul on Aaron Ramsdale by Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Palace completed the turnaround in the second half when Eberechi Eze scored from outside the box, helped by a deflection off Mateus Fernandes, to seal just their second home win of the season. The Saints couldn’t create any clear-cut chances to get back in the game and it is looking very bleak for Southampton with just six points from the first half of the season.
Crystal Palace created a six-point cushion to safety from the drop zone with this win and Oliver Glasner would be mighty pleased with this hard-fought win.
West Ham United 0-5 Liverpool
Liverpool maintained their lead at the top with a thumping win away against the Hammers at the London Stadium.
The home side had a superb chance inside six minutes when Lucas Paquetá slipped while on goal and tipped the ball over the bar. A minute later, Mohamed Salah was through on goal but Alphonso Areola made a superb save. Areola was in fine form for the first 25 minutes denying Salah, Curtis Jones and Luis Diaz but Liverpool kept attacking. Liverpool’s first goal came from a fortuitous situation when Diaz’s pass for Cody Gakpo fell in his path off Vladimir Coufal and the Columbian struck a low shot into the bottom corner. West Ham rallied back and Mohammed Kudus was the danger man whose 20-yard shot beat Alisson Becker but unfortunately hit the post. Liverpool’s second arrived at the 40th minute from a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross to Salah whose superb piece of skill squeezed a pass to Gakpo for a simple tap-in. Four minutes later, Liverpool got a third through the inevitable Salah when Curtis Jones played him through and his low shot found the net near post past Areola. The game was virtually over in the first half with Liverpool going into the break 3-0 up.
The Reds piled more misery on the Hammers as they continued to dominate proceedings. In the 54th minute, Alexander-Arnold’s shot from range took a deflection off Max Kilman’s head and flew past a wrong-footed Areola for Liverpool’s fourth of the evening. The over-worked Areola was called into action again and again in the final half-hour, making one particularly impressive reflex save to deny substitute Diogo Jota. However, seven minutes from full-time, Salah ran past the entire Hammers’ backline to set up Jota who scored to complete a five-star performance for the Reds. The Hammers had a late shot from substitute Luis Guilherme deflected wide by Virgil Van Dijk but it was a little too late for a fightback.
The Reds maintained their lead at the top with an emphatic performance while Julen Lopetegui’s West Ham continued their dismal campaign so far.
Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolves salvaged a point after going ahead against Spurs away from home.
The visitors took the early initiative as they took the lead from a set-piece situation with Hwang Hee-Chan scoring a superb goal for the opener. But the Wolves’ advantage was short-lived as five minutes later, Spurs equalised with Rodrigo Bentancur nodding home from a Pedro Porro corner. Cunha then struck a long-range shot marginally wide. Spurs had a chance to take the lead before the break when Brennan Johnson was fouled from behind by Andre in the box but Hueng-Min Son’s spot-kick was saved by a diving José Sá. Moments later though, Spurs did take the lead when Dejan Kulusevski and Johnson played a 1-2 with the Swedish midfielder finding Johnson who slotted home going into the break with a 2-1 lead.
Wolves equalised in the 87th minute through Jørgen Strand Larsen who rifled his shot into the top of the net from a really tight angle. With all three points for the taking, both sides endured nervy moments with Wolves and Spurs both spurning late chances and had to be content with a draw.
The result left Wolves in 17th place on 16 points and they stand two points above the relegation zone. Spurs are languishing in 11th with 24 points from 19 games.
Manchester United 0-2 Newcastle United
Manchester United’s dismal run of form continued as they suffered a third straight defeat in December, this time losing to the in-form Magpies.
Newcastle had the perfect start with a goal inside four minutes when an unmarked Alexander Isak headed home from close range from an inviting Lewis Hall cross. The Magpies continued to dominate possession and doubled their advantage in the 19th minute when Joelinton got at the end of a teasing Anthony Gordon cross into the box. Isak scored another but it was denied for offside. The Magpies were so dominant for the first half an hour that Ruben Amorim had to ring in changes bringing on a defensive midfielder for Joshua Zirkzee in the 32nd minute. Three minutes later, Rasmus Højlund dragged his shot wide – the first real chance for United to get back in the game. Just before the break,Fabian Schär’s poor backpass was intercepted by Kobbie Mainoo who passed to Casemiro but he couldn’t take advantage and fluffed a glorious opportunity.
The second half saw the hosts attack with real purpose and intent. Five minutes into the second half, Harry Maguire’s diving header hit the post and Mathijs de Ligt shot from the rebound was blocked. Another chance went begging when Lenny Yoro dragged a free header wide in the 73rd minute. Newcastle endured a few nervy moments till the end to take all three points.
While United are going through a terrible situation, Eddie Howe’s side have now won four games in a row, only trailing by three points to Chelsea in fourth.
Ipswich Town 2-0 Chelsea
Ipswich Town recorded their first home win of the season, shocking Chelsea with a 2-0 scoreline.
The home side looked energetic and positive from the start with their forward Liam Delap causing Chelsea a fair few problems. They had their first decent chance inside three minutes with winger Omari Hutchinson driving to the byline and passing to Nathan Broadhead whose shot on goal was saved. However, Ipswich deservedly took the lead in the 12th minute when Leif Davis put Delap through on goal and he was fouled by Chelsea keeper Filip Jörgensen resulting in a penalty being awarded to the tractor boys. Delap stepped forward to convert the spot-kick. João Félix thought he had equalised in the 24th minute when he nodded home from a Cole Palmer cross but after a lengthy VAR check,the goal was chalked off for offside. Chelsea threatened again with Palmer hitting the post from a free-kick and Nkunku shooting straight at Christian Walton from the rebound. Walton saved another chance from Palmer just before the break conserving his side’s 1-0 lead into the break.
Chelsea’s equaliser never came in the second half while the hosts doubled their advantage with Delap turning provider this time. In the 53rd minute Delap latched onto a poor pass from the Blues defender Axel Disasi and laid it off for Hutchinson who slotted it into the far corner to the delight of fans at Portman road. Chelsea couldn’t find a fitting response and ended up losing a second straight game.
With this shock upset, Chelsea widened their gap to the top, falling to fourth position behind Nottingham Forest and Arsenal.
Aston Villa 2-2 Brighton and Hove Albion
Aston Villa and Brighton played out an entertaining game as both shared a point at Villa Park.
The visitors took the shock lead in the 12th minute as Lewis Dunk’s long ball over the top for João Pedro fell for Simon Adingra who took a touch before firing beyond Emi Martínez. Villa pressed forward with intent, but without really testing Bart Verbruggen in the Brighton goal. Martínez on the other hand,pushed behind a long-range strike from Julio Enciso, before Jan Paul van Hecke headed narrowly wide from the subsequent corner. Villa found the equaliser in the form of an Ollie Watkins spot-kick in the 36th minute when Morgan Rogers was upended by Pedro in the penalty box on a corner. Villa continued to pose questions in search of another goal as they started to dominate.
But despite 12 minutes of added time, Villa couldn’t capitalise and both teams went into the interval at 1-1.
However, two minutes into the restart, Villa took the lead when Watkins’ delightful pass found Rogers into the box and he finished emphatically into the far bottom corner. Watkins headed Lucas Digne’s cross straight at Verbruggen before Pedro fired off target at the other end having been presented with a clear opening.The game continued to hang in the balance and it was the Seagulls who levelled with nine minutes remaining as Pedro laid the ball off for Tariq Lamptey to drill a fine strike beyond Martínez. Ollie Watkins had a late chance to grab all three points for Villa but he fired his shot over the bar as the game ended with honours even. An entertaining fixture with end-to-end football that ended in a draw, Fabian Hürzeler would be pleased with a point after his side trailing behind for most part of the second half.
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