- Liverpool reignited their flagging title defence with an impressive 3-1 win against Tottenham that saw them move up fourth, as well as end a five-match winless run in the Premier League.
The second half of the English Premier League got underway this past Tuesday with game in hand Manchester City staking their quest for a third championship within four years with a 5-0 thrashing of West Brom that saw them climb to the top of the table for the first time this season.
Title hopeful side, Manchester United, botched the chance to regain the top spot on Wednesday following a stunning 2-1 home upset at the hands of bottommost Sheffield, who grabbed just their second win of the season. Leicester City held on to the third spot after coming from behind to earn a battling point at Everton, and West Ham was impressive at Selhurst Pak as they edged Crystal Palace by a point in a five-goal thriller. Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea reign got off to a frustrating start as Wolves secured a point in a drab stalemate at Stamford Bridge.
Elsewhere in midweek action, Arsenal continued their excellent run of league form with a come from behind 3-1 smashing of Southampton in the absence of Captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Brighton continued their long winless run at home with a 0-0 tie against fellow strugglers Fulham, Newcastle ceded all 3points to Leeds United at home, and Burnley came from behind twice to grab an unlikely win against Aston Villa.
And in the biggest draw of the midweek, Liverpool reignited their flagging title defence with an impressive 3-1 win against Tottenham that saw them move up fourth, as well as end a five-match winless run in the Premier League.
Scores At A Glance
Tuesday
Newcastle 1-2 Leeds United
Crystal Palace 2-3 West Ham
Southampton 1-3 Arsenal
West Brom 0-5 Manchester City
Wednesday
Chelsea 0-0 Wolves
Burnley 3-2 Aston Villa
Brighton 0-0 Fulham
Manchester United 1-2 Sheffield Utd
Everton 1-1 Leicester City
Thursday
Tottenham 1-3 Liverpool
EPL Week 20 Standings
Tuesday
Newcastle 1-2 Leeds United
Goals from Raphinha and Jack Harrison fired Leeds back to winning ways as an improved Newcastle fell short of easing the pressure on Steve Bruce in a 2-1 defeat at St James' Park.
Raphinha's third goal of the season gave Leeds a deserved lead at the break after a dominant first half, but a drastically improved Newcastle levelled 12 minutes after the restart through Miguel Almiron.
Parity lasted just four minutes, with Jack Harrison restoring Leeds' advantage with a brilliantly-taken second, and that was enough to see Marcelo Bielsa's side arrest a three-game losing streak and secure a first league double over Newcastle since 1976.
There was to be no relief for under-fire Magpies boss Bruce as the woodwork prevented Jamal Lewis from snatching a late point for a Newcastle side who have now gone 11 games without a win in all competitions, but there were positives to be taken from their spirited fightback which fell agonisingly short
Crystal Palace 2-3 West Ham
Tomas Soucek's first-half double set West Ham on the way to move fourth in the table with a 3-2 win at Crystal Palace keeping up their 100-per-cent record in 2021.
The Czech midfielder became only the fifth of his countrymen to reach double figures in the Premier League courtesy of a bullet header (9) and a close-range finish from a free-kick (25).
His double mounted a rapid turnaround after the returning Wilfried Zaha had fired Palace ahead with less than three minutes on the clock, but the hosts would barely threaten until late on from that moment on.
Instead, Michail Antonio twice hit the woodwork before Craig Dawson scored his first Premier League goal for the Hammers (66) to extend his side's winning run to six games and lift them briefly to the unthinkable heights of fourth, even with Michy Batshuayi's injury-time consolation (90+6) providing a minor blot on their copy book.
Southampton 1-3 Arsenal
Arsenal's Premier League resurgence continued as they beat Southampton 3-1 at St Mary's to move ninth in the Premier League.
Goals from Nicolas Pepe, Bukayo Saka and Alexandre Lacazette gave the Gunners their fifth win in six league games, meaning they leapfrog Saints and move into the top half for the first time since mid-November.
There was just one goal in it in the FA Cup fourth-round clash on Saturday, but the first half here brought a flurry as Arsenal improved drastically after going behind early on.
Stuart Armstrong's finish from a clever James Ward-Prowse corner put Saints ahead (4), but Pepe answered some critics with a low finish inside the box from Granit Xhaka's through ball (8).
Saka got Arsenal's second just before the break, rounding Alex McCarthy after Lacazette's threaded ball (39), and Saka turned provider for Lacazette in the second half for a well-constructed third (72).
After looking over their shoulders at the relegation zone in December, Arsenal are now only five points off the top four, while Saints are a point behind in 11th.
West Brom 0-5 Manchester City
Manchester City reached the summit of the Premier League for the first time this season after an irresistible performance saw them sweep past West Brom 5-0.
In what was arguably one of the most complete 90 minute performances of any team in the Premier League this season, City took an early lead when Ilkay Gundogan fired home (6) from 20 yards after a wonderful pass from Joao Cancelo.
Gundogan - playing in a false nine position in the absence of Kevin De Bruyne - grabbed his seventh goal of the season with another tidy finish (30) before Riyad Mahrez capped a sensational team first-half performance with an outstanding solo effort (45). Raheem Sterling got in on the act in the second half (57) as City continued their winning streak in all competitions, which is now at 11 games.
In contrast, the Baggies have now lost their last five top-flight home games - their worst run at The Hawthorns in the Premier League in 17 years - while conceding 22 goals in the process.
Albion remain second bottom and six points from safety.
Wednesday
Chelsea 0-0 Wolves
Thomas Tuchel failed to supply the new manager bounce Chelsea were after as his tenure at Stamford Bridge began with an underwhelming 0-0 draw with Wolves.
Twenty-four hours on from his confirmation as Frank Lampard's successor, Tuchel orchestrated a possession-heavy performance on his first outing which crucially lacked a cutting edge.
Olivier Giroud squandered Chelsea's best first-half opening, while Ben Chilwell, Mateo Kovacic, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Kai Havertz all passed up opportunities to earn their new manager three points in the second.
The point sees Chelsea climb to eighth in the table, but they remain 11 points off the summit after a run of just one win in their last six Premier League games.
Wolves, who could have snatched a first victory in seven late on when Pedro Neto clipped the crossbar, climb a place to 13th after an encouraging first Premier League clean sheet since October 30.
Burnley 3-2 Aston Villa
Chris Wood's late header secured a 3-2 comeback victory for Burnley, with Aston Villa twice letting a lead slip at Turf Moor.
Burnley went into the game having shocked Liverpool at Anfield in their last Premier League outing, but were hit with a blow early on when Ollie Watkins (14) deftly turned home early on.
Aston Villa will rue a string of missed chances in an eye-catching first half, with Ben Mee's (52) header levelling things up shortly after the break. The ever-impressive Jack Grealish (68) scored for the first time in eight Premier League games to fire Villa back ahead, but they were pegged back again when Dwight McNeil's cross squirmed home at the back post (76).
Burnley completed their second-half comeback three minutes later with another header, this time from Chris Wood (79), who has now scored in four of his five league starts against Aston Villa.
Sean Dyche's side have now won their last three games in all competitions and continue to pull away from the relegation places, now into 15th with 22 points. Aston Villa drop a place into 10th but with two games in hand over several sides above them.
Brighton 0-0 Fulham
Lewis Dunk's last-minute goal-line clearance denied Fulham the chance to move within two points of safety as they were held to a 0-0 draw at Brighton.
The hosts had the best of the chances at the Amex Stadium on the balance of play, with Leandro Trossard forcing a smart save from Alphonse Areola before half-time when he should have scored.
Neal Maupay missed the target altogether with another presentable opportunity after the break as Brighton's search for a first home win since June 20 last year continued.
But it was Fulham who almost snatched victory in second-half injury time, when Chelsea loanee Ruben Loftus-Cheek's goalbound shot was cleared off the line by Dunk with Robert Sanchez beaten.
The draw keeps Brighton five points clear of third-bottom Fulham, although Scott Parker's men have a game in hand on all of the sides around them.
Manchester United 1-2 Sheffield Utd
Sheffield United pulled off one of the shocks of the season as title-chasing Manchester United were beaten 2-1 by Chris Wilder's improving side.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side had the chance to leapfrog Manchester City back into top spot but froze under the pressure against bottom-of-the-league Blades, who had only won once in the Premier League this season.
Kean Bryan headed home the opener when taking advantage of some questionable goalkeeping from David de Gea but former Sheffield United man Harry Maguire scored his first goal at Old Trafford to level it up.
A late siege on the Sheffield United goal was expected but Chris Wilder's substitution to bring on Oliver Burke paid off as he struck the winner via a big deflection off Axel Tuanzebe.
The result leaves Manchester United a point behind City, who have a game in hand, while the great escape could be on for Wilder's boys. They are 10 points from safety.
Everton 1-1 Leicester City
Jordan Pickford's error gifted Leicester a 1-1 draw at Everton as both missed out on opportunities to climb the Premier League table.
James Rodriguez's superb strike (30) gave the hosts the lead after Leicester, who were without the injured Jamie Vardy, had dominated the majority of the first half.
Everton sat back on their lead in the second half, but Leicester eventually got reward for their dominance as Pickford allowed Youri Tielemans' shot to slip through his grasp for the equaliser.
Both sides had opportunities to win the game late on as Dominic Calvert-Lewin and James Maddison missed chances to seal all three points in front of the watching England boss Gareth Southgate, but in the end the two sides had to settle for a point.
The draw leaves Everton, who missed the chance to go above rivals Liverpool ahead of their game with Tottenham on Thursday, two points off the top four with two games in hand. Meanwhile, Leicester missed out on going second and level on points with leaders Man City after the draw at Goodison Park.
Thursday
Tottenham 1-3 Liverpool
Liverpool reignited their title defence by ending a five-match winless run in the Premier League with a dominant win at Tottenham.
Roberto Firmino tapped the Reds ahead on the stroke of half-time when Hugo Lloris and Eric Dier hesitated in dealing with Sadio Mane's low cross.
Trent Alexander-Arnold drilled in the second before Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's stunner gave Spurs a glimmer of hope.
But Mane lashed the ball home to seal the win and move Liverpool into fourth.
Spurs, who stay sixth after trailing Liverpool by a point going into the game, saw their miserable evening compounded by striker Harry Kane suffering an ankle injury.
The England captain, who has a history of ankle problems, was withdrawn at half-time as a result of the problem.
Game day results from sky sports and BBC sport were used in this compilation
