EPL Table Week 16: Examining How Saturday's Action Impacted Standings

Matchday 16 was expected to get off to an exciting start as Manchester City and Arsenal battled in a key clash at Etihad Stadium.

The match lived up to the hype as nine goals were scored, and City triumphed to pull within three points of the league-leading Gunners.

The fixture highlighted a busy day of action around the Premier League.

Along with those two title contenders, Chelsea, Everton, Newcastle and Southampton were all in action. It's the latest stop on a very busy stretch for clubs leading up to the new year.

With all of those clubs in action and a bunched-up table, things were sure to get shaken up. With that in mind, let's examine how the table looks after the early Week 16 results:

Rank	Club	GP	W	D	L	GD	PTS
1	Arsenal	16	11	2	3	16	35
2	Chelsea	16	10	3	3	14	33
3	Manchester City	16	10	2	4	29	32
4	Everton	16	8	7	1	12	31
5	Liverpool	15	9	3	3	16	30
6	Newcastle	16	8	3	5	-1	27
7	Tottenham	15	8	3	4	-1	27
8	Southampton	16	6	6	4	5	24
9	Manchester United	15	6	4	5	3	22
10	Swansea	15	5	4	6	1	19
11	Aston Villa	15	5	4	6	-2	19
12	Hull	16	5	4	7	-6	19
13	Stoke	16	4	6	6	-5	18
14	Cardiff	16	4	5	7	-10	17
15	Norwich	15	5	2	8	-14	17
16	West Brom	16	3	6	7	-5	15
17	West Ham	16	3	5	8	-6	14
18	Crystal Palace	16	4	1	11	-13	13
19	Fulham	16	4	1	11	-15	13
20	Sunderland	16	2	3	11	-18	9

Here are the Saturday results from around the Premier League:

Home Club	Road Club	Score
Manchester City	Arsenal	6-3
Cardiff	West Brom	1-0
Chelsea	Crystal Palace	2-1
Everton	Fulham	4-1
Newcastle	Southampton	1-1
West Ham	Sunderland	0-0
Hull	Stoke	0-0

As mentioned, Manchester City were able to pick up a crucial win over Arsenal.

If the Gunners would have found a way to score a win on the road over City, they could have really started to put some distance between themselves and their fellow top contenders.

Instead, Fernandinho netted a pair of second-half goals and four other City players found the net to continue their run of dominance at home. City are now 8-0-0 at Etihad Stadium with an amazing 35-5 goal differential in those matches.

The result of the weekend's marquee match means City has, at least for the time being, jumped into third place. Arsenal remain atop the table, but their lead has shrunk.

That's because Chelsea were able to pull out a narrow 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace.

The underdog deserves a lot of credit for playing the Blues tough on the road, but a goal from Marouane Chamakh wasn't enough to earn a point as Fernando Torres and Ramires struck for Chelsea.

The Blues are now in second place, just two points off Arsenal's league-leading pace.

Another club to pick up an important win to remain in the mix was Everton.

Their match with Fulham was actually tied after Dimitar Berbatov scored from the spot in the 67th minute, but Seamus Coleman gave the Toffees the lead back a few minutes later, and they never looked back en route to a 4-1 win.

With the triumph, Everton stays squarely in contention for a Champions League berth as they sit in fourth place for the time being. A run toward the title could even be creeping into the minds of those at Goodison Park.

The other match of note in the early going saw Newcastle and Southampton fight to a 1-1 draw.

A Yoan Gouffran tally gave the Toon a halftime lead, but Jay Rodriguez equalized for the Saints to earn what could end up being a key road point. Both squads remain in the top eight.

Elsewhere, Cardiff got a goal from Peter Whittingham in a 1-0 win over West Brom, which gives them some breathing room ahead of the relegation zone.

West Ham and Sunderland played to a lackluster scoreless draw. The lack of finishing ability shows why both clubs likely face an extended fight to stay in the Premier League.

Finally, the day wrapped up with Hull and Stoke failing to find the scoreboard. Both sides had a couple chances, but Allan McGregor and Asmir Begovic were up to the task. Each mid-table club moved a point further away from the relegation zone as a result.