EPL Table: Latest Week 15 Results, Scores and 2014 Premier League Standings

Chelsea once again starred as the headline act in Week 15 of the Premier League campaign, but for all the wrong reasons as they suffered their first defeat of the 2014-15 season.

Newcastle United gave the rest of the division a boost in bringing the Blues back down to earth with a 2-1 victory at St. James' Park on Saturday, opening the fore to the rest of England's elite.

As we'll discuss, however, Jose Mourinho's giants were the only ones to fall in a week of action which once again displayed the Premier League's potency for producing drama.

Date	Home	Result	Away
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

Position	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
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

Monday Recap

Monday evening had just one fixture on the Premier League slate, but what an important one it was as Manchester United clinched three points at St. Mary's to take third spot as their own.

This was a crucial matchup for both clubs, but with Louis van Gaal's men enjoying a rebirth of late and the Saints in slump, per Squawka, it was the Red Devils who came out on top:

Robin van Persie bagged both goals as United left the south coast with a 2-1 victory, although Graziano Pelle's goal wasn't the only chance which threatened from the hosts.

Even Van Gaal came to admit his side were fortunate to take maximum points, per the official Manchester United Twitter account:

The Red Devils now sit in their highest position since winning the Premier League title in 2012-13. Sky Sports Monday Night Football shows that theirs has been the best recent form of any team among the English hierarchy of late:

Injuries are gradually beginning to dissipate at Old Trafford and the team is benefitting as a result, while Southampton's top-four dream may be slipping away.

Sunday Recap

Michael Regan/Getty Images

West Ham came from behind to beat Swansea City 3-1 and move to third place in the Premier League. A brace from Andy Carroll and late strike from Diafra Sakho overturned Wilfried Bony's early goal, as Sam Allardyce's team continued their excellent start to the season.

Michael Regan/Getty Images

Knowing that three points here would push the Hammers into third place in the table, they began the game the better of the two sides. But they failed to make their early pressure pay, and were punished when Swansea scored from their very first attack of any real endeavour.

An incisive passing move eventually saw Jefferson Montero find Bony eight yards out, and he finished with aplomb. It was the Ivorian's seventh goal of the campaign, and as noted here by Squawka, he's a player that's been in excellent goalscoring form throughout the calendar year:

But the home side responded with distinction, probing at the Welsh outfit with a mixture of their new-found flair and age-old robustness. Before the break they were level, as Carroll thumped in a header at the back post from a fine Karl Jenkinson cross.

Michael Regan/Getty Images

It's a goal that has been a long time coming for the former Liverpool forward and the relief was clear in his celebration after a start to the season that has been compromised by injuries and poor form. And things were to get even better for the rangy striker, as he headed home a corner to put the Hammers 2-1 up and send the home fans into raptures.

Carroll was continuing his excellent record against the Swans, as noted here by WhoScored.com:

Swansea looked as though they were set to surrender yet another winning position, and their task got even harder when goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was sent off for bringing down Sakho on the edge of the area. And the Senegalese forward dusted himself down to surge through the Swansea defence and smash home a third.

In the second game of the day, Aston Villa had two unlikely goalscorers to thank as they picked up a vital three points against struggling Leicester. The Foxes took the lead courtesy of Leonardo Ulloa, but his goal was quickly cancelled out by a header from Ciaran Clark and the home side snatched the win thanks to a second half strike from Alan Hutton.

Stu Forster/Getty Images

Paul Lambert will be delighted with the response shown by his players, as they fought back well after the concession of a very soft early goal. Ulloa capitalised on some poor goalkeeping from Brad Guzan to put the bottom side ahead.

After a prolific start to the campaign, it was much needed strike for the Argentine, as we can see here courtesy of Squawka:

Villa weren't behind for long though, as Clark headed in superbly from Ashley Westwood's free-kick. With both teams battling hard for the points, the match did become a little ill-tempered, as noted here by Henry Winter of the Telegraph:

That abrasive pattern continued after the second period with neither team keen on giving an inch. But after Guzan made a superb stop from substitute David Nugent's volley, it was Paul Lambert's team who seized the initiative thanks to Hutton's finish at the back post.

Leicester's task was made even more difficult when Paul Konchesky was harshly dismissed. They failed to appropriately test Guzan in the latter stages, and Nigel Pearson will be disappointed that for the third time in a week, his team were unable to convert the first goal of the game into any points.

Saturday Recap

It was just over a week ago that Chelsea were flying high on a seven-point lead at the summit of the English top flight, but after a disastrous week of results, Newcastle helped in maintaining their slump on Saturday.

A Papiss Demba Cisse brace helped the Magpies tuck away two of their three shots on target, while Chelsea had an incredible 26 attempts on goal, Eden Hazard converting just the one.

After the game, Mourinho had a lot to say for the referee's performance, merely blaming a lack of luck on his team's part, per the official Premier League Twitter account:

However, Sunni Upal of the Daily Mail provides more quotes from the Portuguese, where he hints there was more than simple misfortune to his defeat:

"

We wanted to play more football but it was not possible because a few things I thought didn't belong any more to top-level football but still belongs - the ball disappeared, the ball doesn't come, another ball comes, the ball boys run away - these kind of situations that unfortunately are still part of the game. But no complaints.

"

The next David versus Goliath story came with Arsenal's undoing at the hands of Stoke City, where the Potters ushered their opponents out of the Britannia Stadium on the back of a 3-2 victory.

It was touch and go for Mark Hughes' side at one point, letting a 3-0 lead slip to allow the Gunner back into the matchup, but Calum Chambers' sending off for a second yellow 12 minutes from time helped secure the result.

Peter Crouch, Bojan and Jonathan Walters were the latest figures to exploit certain inadequacies in Arsene Wenger's line-up, and Sky Sports News pointed out the Potters as particularly inhospitable hosts for the north Londoners:

Manchester City capitalised on the Gunners' fall by closing the gap on Chelsea to just three points thanks to their 1-0 win over Everton in Saturday's evening fixture.

Yaya Toure opened the scoring from the spot just 24 minutes in, but City suffered some terrifying news after hitman Sergio Aguero came off early. Manuel Pellegrini hinted at the worst:

It looked as though City would make their pressure tell against the Toffees, but without Aguero, the Citizens were lacking their most clinical edge and must only hope it's not a permanent theme without his services.

Over at Loftus Road, Charlie Austin continued his fine run of scoring form en route to a 2-0 win for QPR against Burnley, Squawka showing just how crucial the Englishman has been to their cause this term:

Harry Redknapp's side rise out of the relegation zone for the first time since mid-September thanks to those three points, but it was a less inspirational day for Liverpool, who drew 0-0 at home to Sunderland.

This was the Black Cats' fifth 0-0 stalemate of the season and ninth draw overall. There might have been positives for Gus Poyet's men to take, but Brendan Rodgers somehow still managed to glean encouragement from a fixture his side should be winning:

That was one of three 0-0 stalemates on Saturday, with Tottenham failing to break the deadlock at home against Crystal Palace and West Brom holding off Hull City for a point at the KC Stadium.

The Eagles and Baggies can be especially happy with their spoils, but for Spurs in particular, this was another example of chances not being taken up front as Mauricio Pochettino's White Hart Lane struggle endures.