07
Thu, Dec

Traore wheels away to celebrate after denting a huge blow in Fulham's survival hopes

English Premier League
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  • Dethroned champions - Liverpool – finally got over their recent struggles at Anfield as they managed a dramatic injury-time winner over Aston Villa to end a run of six consecutive defeats at home. Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel
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Premier League Champions in the offing, Manchester City, suffered a minor setback to their pending coronation following a 2-1 upset at the Etihad at the hands of 10-man West Ham that left them four wins away from the championship in a match they were highly favored to win.

Dethroned champions - Liverpool – finally got over their recent struggles at Anfield as they managed a dramatic injury-time winner over Aston Villa to end a run of six consecutive defeats at home. Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel rebounded from his first loss - a 5-2 upset at the hands of lowly West Brom last weekend – with a dominating 4-1 win at Crystal Palace to stay in contention for a top four finish.

Earlier on Friday, Adama Traore struck a stoppage-time winner for Wolves to hand Fulham's survival hopes another significant blow.

On Sunday, Newcastle distanced themselves from the bottom places with an impressive 2-1 victory at Burnley. Jesse Lingard continued his stunning form with West Ham by scoring twice in the first half to set the Hammers on course for a crucial victory over fellow Champions League hopefuls Leicester City. Manchester United solidified their grip on the second spot with a 3-1 thumping of Tottenham in deserved come from behind win, and Arsenal ended a run of four games without a win with victory over the Premier League's bottom club Sheffield United.

And on Monday, West Brom boosted their survival hopes with a trio of goals over Southampton whilst Brighton divvied the spoils at home with Everton.

 Mohamed Salah celebrates his equalizer, his side's first goal in open play at Anfield since 27 December - a run of 12 hours and 45 minutes and 132 shots since Sadio Mane scored against West Brom. They netted one penalty at their home ground in that time.

 

Mohamed Salah celebrates his equalizer, his side's first goal in open play at Anfield since 27 December - a run of 12 hours and 45 minutes and 132 shots since Sadio Mane scored against West Brom. They netted one penalty at their home ground in that time.

EPL Week 31 Scores At A Glance

epl week31 standings 2021

Friday

Fulham 0-1 Wolves

Saturday

Manchester City 1-2 Leeds United

Liverpool 2-1 Aston Villa

Crystal City 1-4 Chelsea

Sunday

Burnley 1-2 Newcastle

West Ham 3-2 Leicester

Tottenham 1-3 Manchester United

Sheffield United 0-3 Arsenal

Monday

West Brom vs. Southampton

Brighton vs. Everton

Friday

Fulham 0-1 Wolves

Adama Traore's 92nd-minute stunner gave Wolves a 1-0 victory over Fulham to sink the Cottagers deeper into the relegation mire.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek glanced a fine chance wide of goal in the first half for Fulham, before Wolves' Willian Jose had a header ruled out in first-half stoppage time, with VAR intervening to find Daniel Podence offside by a matter of centimetres in the build-up.

That call looked to have saved Fulham a point, having failed to muster up a clear-cut chance in the second half, but Traore broke in the closing stages of stoppage time to score his first goal of the season, lashing home from an acute angle on the break past Alphonse Areola, who should have done better.

Fulham remain 18th on 26points and Wolves 12th on 38points.

Saturday

Manchester City 1-2 Leeds United

Leeds United pulled off a remarkable 2-1 win away to champions-elect Man City with Stuart Dallas at the double, despite playing with 10 men for 45 minutes.

Pep Guardiola's men needed just 11 more points to secure the Premier League title but were met by a resilient Leeds side, who took the lead at the Etihad Stadium when Dallas found a way through (42).

The game swung in City's favour just before the break when Liam Cooper was dismissed for an ugly lunge on Gabriel Jesus which was upgraded from a yellow card to a red after VAR had instructed Andre Marriner to review the decision on the pitchside monitor.

City set up camp in the Leeds half with the extra man but Marcelo Bielsa's men were dogged in their defending and it took until 14 minutes from time to level it up when Ferran Torres struck.

The game only looked like going one way from that moment but Leeds continued to dig in and sensationally staged a devastating counter-attack which was finished off by the tireless Dallas (90+1) as Leeds managed to win despite having just two shots on goal to City's 29.

Liverpool 2-1 Aston Villa

Liverpool's run of six successive Premier League defeats at Anfield has come to a dramatic end, with Trent Alexander-Arnold's stunning winner beating Aston Villa 2-1.

The first half played it in an achingly familiar fashion. Liverpool saw a plethora of chances but failed to take them, before Ollie Watkins (43) fired Aston Villa ahead, having now scored four goals against the Reds in the league this season.

Liverpool thought they had equalised with the last kick of the first half, but Roberto Firmino's goal was ruled out for offside. Diogo Jota was the man penalised by VAR in another lengthy and extremely tight call.

But Mohamed Salah's (57) tap-in early in the second half finally hauled Liverpool level and ended the Reds' run of 12 hours and 44 minutes without an open-play goal at home in the Premier League.

Aston Villa came closest to scoring next when Trezeguet (62) hit the post, but much like the end of the first half, there was late drama to finally break Liverpool's losing run. Alexander-Arnold curled home a sensational strike in injury time (90+1) - with England manager Gareth Southgate watching on from the stands.

 

Crystal City 1-4 Chelsea

Chelsea remained in contention top four finish as Christian Pulisic scored twice in an impressive 4-1 win against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

Kai Havertz struck inside eight minutes to ease any fears of another set-back following last weekend's 5-2 defeat at home to West Brom.

Chelsea doubled their lead just two minutes later when Havertz turned provider for Pulisic to rifle in a quickfire second and Kurt Zouma extended the visitors' lead when he headed in his fifth goal of the season (30).

Palace had offered very little, but found a route back into the game when Christian Benteke headed in at the far post (63), but Pulisic capped a routine win for Chelsea from close range as Tuchel's men responded in this absorbing race to qualify for next season's Champions League. Palace dropped to 13th place on 38 points and Chelsea remained 5th on 54 points.

Sunday

Burnley 1-2 Newcastle

Allan Saint-Maximin's devastating impact from the bench eased Newcastle's relegation fears as he set up one and scored one in a crucial 2-1 win at Burnley.

Steve Bruce's men looked set for another miserable away day when Matej Vydra (18) struck but the Premier League game completely changed with the introduction of Saint-Maximin on 57 minutes.

Five minutes later, Newcastle were 2-1 to the good with the Frenchman providing the assist for a wonderful Jacob Murphy finish (59) before scoring a sensational solo effort (64).

Newcastle had to face a barrage from Burnley, in the form of 12 corners and 21 shots over the course of 90 minutes at Turf Moor, but led by the outstanding Martin Dubravka, the Toon saw out the game to win a vital three points.

The victory takes them six points clear of Fulham, who have also played a game more than Bruce's side.

West Ham 3-2 Leicester

Jesse Lingard continued his stunning form with West Ham by scoring twice in the first half to set the Hammers on course for a crucial victory over fellow Champions League hopefuls Leicester City.

But David Moyes' men showed they are up for the challenge of qualifying for Europe's top club competition for the first time, going 3-0 up and holding on during a late Leicester rally to climb back into fourth.

The Hammers took the lead as Arthur Masuaku's cross went through to right-back Vladimir Coufal, who cut back for Lingard to sweep the ball inside Kasper Schmeichel's near post from the edge of the box.

Jarrod Bowen then beat the offside trap to race on to Issa Diop's long ball and square for Lingard to tap into an empty net for his eighth goal in nine Premier League games since arriving on loan from Manchester United.

The 28-year-old forward, whose recent form earned him an England recall, then played a part in West Ham's third goal right after half-time as Bowen poked in from Tomas Soucek's pass to round off a clinical team move.

Kelechi Iheanacho pulled a goal back to give the visitors hope, before grabbing his 11th goal in 11 games in stoppage time, but the Hammers ensured they did not surrender a 3-0 lead for the second straight home game and move within a point of third-placed Leicester.

Tottenham 1-3 Manchester United

Manchester United came from behind once again to win 3-1 at Tottenham and dent the hosts' top-four hopes with just seven Premier League games remaining.

Edinson Cavani had a goal controversially disallowed on 33 minutes after VAR spotted a flailing arm from Scott McTominay on Heung-Min Son in the build-up, a decision described as "embarrassing and ridiculous" by Sky Sports' pundits at half-time, while the South Korea forward himself put Spurs ahead before the break with a far-post finish from Lucas Moura's centre (40).

United levelled early in the second half as Fred converted a few yards out after Cavani's shot had been parried by Hugo Lloris into the Brazilian's path (57).

United levelled early in the second half as Fred converted a few yards out after Cavani's shot had been parried by Hugo Lloris into the Brazilian's path (57).

The visitors went ahead as substitute Mason Greenwood's brilliant ball was converted by the diving header of Cavani (79), and Greenwood rounded off a brilliant second-half performance for the visitors, smashing home after fantastic work from Paul Pogba to assist (90+6).

The win means United have taken 28 points from losing positions, the most in the Premier League by some distance, leaving them firmly lodged in second place with nine points separating them and fifth place. Spurs dropped to 7th.

Sheffield United 0-3 Arsenal

Arsenal ended a four-game winless streak as Alexandre Lacazette scored twice in a routine 3-0 win over relegation-bound Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.

With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missing through illness, Lacazette clinically swept the Gunners in front (33) to complete a brilliant team move before Gabriel Martinelli scored his first goal in an Arsenal shirt for 15 months following a serious knee injury (71).

Lacazette was ice cool to slot home his 50th Premier League goal in the final five minutes as Arsenal moved back up to ninth place ahead of their Europa League quarter-final second leg with Slavia Prague on Thursday.

Rock bottom Sheffield United's fate is close to being sealed. They are 18 points adrift of 17th-placed Newcastle with 21 points left to play for as the Sky Bet Championship beckons.

 

Monday

West Brom vs. Southampton

Brighton vs. Everton

Game day reports from skysports and BBC were used in this compilation

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