EPL Results Week 15: Premier League Scores, Top Scorers and 2014 Table Tracker
Chelsea's unbeaten run came to an end on Saturday, as the Premier League leaders suffered their first loss in any competition at the hands of Newcastle United, with the hosts holding on for a 2-1 win.
Arsenal lost 3-2 to Stoke City, while Tottenham and Liverpool only managed draws against Crystal Palace and Sunderland respectively on what was altogether a bad day for the supposed "big" teams.
Manchester City were the only title hopefuls who won their match, beating Everton 1-0.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
Queens Park Rangers were the big winners at the bottom of the league, beating Burnley 2-0 to escape the relegation zone. Here's the full schedule for Week 15 of the 2014-15 Premier League season:
| Saturday, Dec. 6 | Newcastle United | 2 - 1 | Chelsea |
| Saturday, Dec. 6 | Hull City | 0 - 0 | West Bromwich Albion |
| Saturday, Dec. 6 | Liverpool | 0 - 0 | Sunderland |
| Saturday, Dec. 6 | Queens Park Rangers | 2 - 0 | Burnley |
| Saturday, Dec. 6 | Stoke City | 3 - 2 | Arsenal |
| Saturday, Dec. 6 | Tottenham Hotspur | 0 - 0 | Crystal Palace |
| Saturday, Dec. 6 | Manchester City | 1 - 0 | Everton |
| Sunday, Dec. 7 | West Ham United | 3-1 | Swansea City |
| Sunday, Dec. 7 | Aston Villa | 2-1 | Leicester City |
| Monday, Dec. 8 | Southampton | 1-2 | Manchester United |
The updated Premier League standings:
| 1 | Chelsea | 15 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 34 | 13 | 21 | 36 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 15 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 32 | 14 | 18 | 33 |
| 3 | Manchester United | 15 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 26 | 17 | 9 | 28 |
| 4 | West Ham United | 15 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 26 | 18 | 8 | 27 |
| 5 | Southampton | 15 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 25 | 12 | 13 | 26 |
| 6 | Arsenal | 15 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 24 | 18 | 6 | 23 |
| 7 | Newcastle United | 15 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 17 | 18 | -1 | 23 |
| 8 | Swansea City | 15 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 20 | 17 | 3 | 22 |
| 9 | Liverpool | 15 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 21 |
| 10 | Tottenham Hotspur | 15 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 18 | 21 | -3 | 21 |
| 11 | Aston Villa | 15 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 19 | -9 | 19 |
| 12 | Everton | 15 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 24 | 23 | 1 | 18 |
| 13 | Stoke City | 15 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 17 | 20 | -3 | 18 |
| 14 | Sunderland | 15 | 2 | 9 | 4 | 13 | 23 | -10 | 15 |
| 15 | Crystal Palace | 15 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 18 | 23 | -5 | 14 |
| 16 | West Bromwich Albion | 15 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 14 | 20 | -6 | 14 |
| 17 | Queens Park Rangers | 15 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 16 | 27 | -11 | 14 |
| 18 | Hull City | 15 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 15 | 21 | -6 | 13 |
| 19 | Burnley | 15 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 24 | -14 | 12 |
| 20 | Leicester City | 15 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 15 | 26 | -11 | 10 |
The Premier League top scorers:
| 1 | Sergio Aguero | Man. City | 14 |
| 2 | Diego Costa | Chelsea | 11 |
| 3 | Alexis Sanchez | Arsenal | 9 |
| 4 | Charlie Austin | QPR | 8 |
| 5 | Papiss Cisse | Newcastle | 7 |
| 5 | Saido Berahino | West Brom | 7 |
| 5 | Wilfried Bony | Swansea | 7 |
| 5 | Diafra Sakho | West Ham | 7 |
| 5 | Graziano Pelle | Southampton | 7 |
Monday Recap
Manchester United's rise over recent weeks reached new heights on Monday evening after Louis van Gaal's men came away from Southampton with a fifth successive win to their name.
As BBC Sport's Howard Nurse attests, this was far from a devastating performance from the Red Devils, but an indomitable ability to win may be making its way back into this side after so long away:
As a result, the Red Devils move into third place for the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge of the team, outlining the belief that Louis van Gaal is once again encouraging.
Speaking to Sky Sports (h/t BBC Sport) after the win, Van Gaal admitted his side were fortunate to walk away from St. Mary's unscathed:
"We lost the ball too easily in the first half. The only chances Southampton created were when we lost the ball. That was not good in spite of our good result because we got a present also from Southampton.
In the second half we were better. But I think Southampton played better than Manchester United yet we were the lucky guys.
"
Saints boss Ronald Koeman agreed that this team deserved more than Graziano Pelle's one goal, per Sky Sports Monday Night Football:
In the end, though, Robin van Persie's brace of goals was enough to tell the two teams apart and United take their spoils back to Old Trafford with the widest of grins.
Van Gaal will be wary of allowing his players to get ahead of themselves, especially with Sunday's fixture against Liverpool fast approaching.
Sunday Recap
West Ham recorded their third league victory in a row on Sunday as they beat Swansea 3-1 at Upton Park to move into third place in the division.
Wilfried Bony bagged his seventh league goal of the season to put the Welsh side ahead but two Andy Carroll headers gave the home team the lead. Swans goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was then sent off and Diafra Sakho wrapped things up for the Irons with an emphatic strike late on.
Sakho continues to be a revelation and his strike was his seventh goal of the season also, the half-time substitute having a major impact on proceedings, per The Telegraph's Jonathan Liew:
With fourth-placed Southampton and fifth-placed Manchester United set to play on Monday, the Hammers will slip a spot to fourth no matter what the outcome, but Sam Allardyce's men are undeniably enjoying a fantastic season so far.
As for Swansea, they remain in eighth place, but Garry Monk will no doubt be very frustrated that his men threw away a lead once again, a common theme for them this term per Opta:
The Welsh outfit could be top of the league with those additional points and it is a feature of Swansea's game that Monk needs to iron out to stop his side slipping further down the league.
Aston Villa are on the way up the table after they claimed a second win in a row on Sunday to move to 11th, Paul Lambert's men coming back from 1-0 down to beat rock-bottom Leicester 2-1 at Villa Park.
Their recent run of nine league games without a win had seen them slipping down the league after a decent start to the term, but they seem to be re-finding some good form at a crucial time with the packed Christmas period now fully in session.
Leonardo Ulloa scored his first goal in 10 games to put the Foxes ahead after a calamitous Brad Guzan spill but Ciaran Clark headed Villa level after a quarter of an hour.
Alan Hutton then bagged his first goal for the club in fine fashion to claim the eventual winner with 20 minutes remaining before Paul Konchesky saw red to compound Leicester's misery.
Nigel Pearson's men are four points from safety and sit bottom of the league table after 10 games without a win and they need to find some form fast to avoid being cut adrift.
Week 15 finishes up on Monday with United's trip to Saints, the Manchester outfit looking for their fifth win in a row while Southampton are looking for a first victory in four.
Saturday Recap
Substitute Papiss Cisse scored twice to give the Magpies a two-goal lead over Chelsea, and—despite a late red card for Steven Taylor and Didier Drogba pulling one back for the Blues almost immediately—Newcastle hung on to hand Chelsea their first loss of the season.
As shared by Uber Football Fact, the loss continues a streak manager Jose Mourinho would love to break against the Magpies:
"Jose Mourinho has never beaten Newcastle in a league game.
— Uber Football Fact (@UberFootFact) December 6, 2014"
The Chelsea manager was understandably in a foul mood after the match, and he took his frustration out on the ball boys, who he claimed were in part responsible for the result.
He believed they deliberately held the ball from his squad, per IndyFootball:
Mourinho also didn't believe the better team won, via the club's official Twitter feed:
Newcastle's resurgence continues to amaze, as Alan Pardew appeared to be all but out of a job after a disastrous start to the campaign. Five consecutive wins saw the Magpies climb all the way to the European slots, and after two matches without a win, they've now beaten arguably the top club in the country.
Former England international Gary Lineker shared an opinion people would have scoffed at two months ago:
Peter Crouch opened the score after just 19 seconds as Stoke City ran out to a three-goal lead over Arsenal. The Gunners' comeback fell short after Calum Chambers saw the red card in the second half.
Arsenal looked dreadful in the opening stages, and while they appeared to recover after half-time, the criticism of Arsene Wenger will only mount after his team were defeated by a club that had lost three in a row themselves.
TV personality and Arsenal superfan Piers Morgan summarised his opinion in one word:
Arsenal will play Galatasaray in the UEFA Champions League before they face a difficult match against Newcastle, and the Gunners are in dire need of some results to kick-start what has been a disappointing season.
Liverpool couldn't find the net against Sunderland, and Tottenham Hotspur befell the same fate against Crystal Palace. Manchester City needed a penalty scored by Yaya Toure to beat Everton, closing the gap with Chelsea to just three points. League top-scorer Sergio Aguero suffered an injury and had to leave the pitch inside the first five minutes.
Charlie Austin bagged a goal and two yellow cards in the span of four minutes, but his dismissal couldn't stop the celebrations at Loftus Road as Queens Park Rangers booked a 2-0 win over Burnley, via the Premier League's official Twitter feed:
Leroy Fer had given the hosts the lead and—even down to 10 men—Rangers comfortably held off Burnley for the win.
Sunday's slate of fixtures will see Swansea City travel to London to take on West Ham United before Aston Villa host Leicester City. The clash between Manchester United and Southampton on Monday will finish up Week 15.
