Premier League Table: Week 12 Standings and Full Roundup After Sunday's Results
Tottenham Hotspur held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw in Sunday's north London derby to prevent the Gunners from moving to the top of the Premier League table following Manchester City's slip against Aston Villa.
Meanwhile, Liverpool were another unfortunate host, as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to Crystal Palace in Jurgen Klopp's first defeat since assuming the Anfield helm.
Villa held Manchester City to a goalless draw earlier on Sunday, but Arsenal's stutter against Spurs means they're fortunate to retain the Premier League throne for the time being.
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Newly appointed Villa manager Remi Garde left his first game in charge of the club with a share of the spoils, even though his side failed to manage a single shot on target, per WhoScored.com.
Read on for a recap of Sunday's Week 12 results so far and a breakdown of the Premier League table as things stand.
| Bournemouth | 0-1 | Newcastle United |
| Sunderland | 0-1 | Southampton |
| West Ham United | 1-1 | Everton |
| Leicester City | 2-1 | Watford |
| Manchester United | 2-0 | West Bromwich Albion |
| Norwich City | 1-0 | Swansea City |
| Stoke City | 1-0 | Chelsea |
| Aston Villa | 0-0 | Manchester City |
| Arsenal | 1-1 | Tottenham Hostpur |
| Liverpool | 1-2 | Crystal Palace |
| 1 | Manchester City | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 26 | 9 | +17 | 26 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 22 | 9 | +13 | 26 |
| 3 | Leicester | 12 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 25 | 20 | +5 | 25 |
| 4 | Manchester United | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 8 | +9 | 24 |
| 5 | Tottenham | 12 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 20 | 10 | +10 | 21 |
| 6 | West Ham | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 23 | 16 | +7 | 21 |
| 7 | Southampton | 12 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 19 | 13 | +6 | 20 |
| 8 | Crystal Palace | 12 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 12 | +2 | 19 |
| 9 | Everton | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 20 | 16 | +4 | 17 |
| 10 | Liverpool | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 13 | 14 | -1 | 17 |
| 11 | Watford | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 12 | -1 | 16 |
| 12 | Stoke | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 12 | -2 | 16 |
| 13 | West Bromwich Albion | 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 16 | -6 | 14 |
| 14 | Swansea | 12 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 16 | -4 | 13 |
| 15 | Norwich | 12 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 16 | 23 | -7 | 12 |
| 16 | Chelsea | 12 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 16 | 23 | -7 | 11 |
| 17 | Newcastle United | 12 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 13 | 22 | -9 | 10 |
| 18 | Bournemouth | 12 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 25 | -13 | 8 |
| 19 | Sunderland | 12 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 13 | 26 | -13 | 6 |
| 20 | Aston Villa | 12 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 10 | 20 | -10 | 5 |
Arsenal Miss Top Spot as Derby Spoils Shared
Arsenal missed their chance to claim the Premier League throne on Sunday after seeing their five-match winning streak come to its end with a 1-1 draw at home to north London derby opponents Tottenham.
However, Daniel Storey of Football 365 thinks the Gunners can be somewhat content just to take a point from the match, suggesting the visitors were deserving of a three-point haul:
Mauricio Pochettino's side dominated the bulk of the scoring chances, per WhoScored.com, and it took Harry Kane 32 minutes to latch onto a Danny Rose pass down the left before sending his shot inside Petr Cech's far post.
After a difficult start to the season, Spurs hitman Kane is now looking back to his best and has netted six goals in his last four outings. Squawka depicted his superb 2015 form as the best in the Premier League:
It looked as though Tottenham were poised to earn revenge against the Gunners after falling to their bitter local rivals in the League Cup last month, but a Kieran Gibbs equaliser salvaged a draw for the hosts.
And none other than puppeteer Mesut Ozil created the gap that would sink Spurs' ship, and OptaJoe confirmed Ozil's spot in Premier League history after crossing to set up Gibbs' volleyed finish:
A point is still enough for Arsene Wenger's side to remain level with Manchester City at the top of the table, and a defeat would have been so much more damning for a team that lost 5-1 to Bayern Munich in midweek.
Meanwhile, Spurs are now unbeaten in their last 11 Premier League games and last suffered defeat to Manchester United on the opening day of the season, but Pochettino will mourn two precious lost points.
Klopp's Liverpool Run Ended Against Eagles
Klopp suffered his first defeat since taking over as Liverpool manager on Sunday, when Crystal Palace climbed above the Reds after triumphing 2-1 at Anfield.
The Eagles have now beaten Liverpool three times in succession, with the last two of those results emerging on Merseyside. Per Neil Jones of the Liverpool Echo, Palace's fans summarised the current relationship between the two clubs:
Alan Pardew's men took an early lead through Yannick Bolasie, but Philippe Coutinho levelled for the home outfit just prior to the half-time whistle with his third goal in two games.
Scott Dann put the Reds' hopes of a result to bed in the 82nd minute, though, after he was granted a second bite of the cherry from a Palace corner to head in the winner. The Liverpool Echo's James Pearce noted there the Liverpool manager made a tactical change late on:
After a 3-1 win over Chelsea last weekend, the urge to produce more entertaining football may have come back to hurt Liverpool in the end, with Palace punishing their failure in seeing out the result.
Pardew's side reap the rewards and move into eighth, while the Reds shuffle down to 10th place following Klopp's first Anfield defeat, after the Crystal Palace curse struck again.
City Frustrated at Villa Park
One could hardly call Manchester City's trip to Aston Villa a barnburner thanks in large part to the way Villans boss Garde had set up his side for his first outing as helmsman of the English outfit.
A fairly lacklustre opening half saw the two sides go in at the break evenly poised—with Villa having managed two shots at goal to City's three—but as B/R UK emphasised, fans were seeking more from the match:
It was the travelling party who obliged in that regard, and Manuel Pellegrini's men began to assert some dominance in attack, with Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne coming close in the second period.
However, both players fluffed their lines in attempting to hand the Citizens a lead, and Sterling was the first to go close, with a five-yard header straight at Villa No. 1 Brad Guzan. Sky Sports provided a look at the chance that went begging:
Pellegrini could be pleased with the way pressure began to turn into chances, but it remained an exercise in futility as the minutes ticked down and opportunities continued to pass them by.
Jesus Navas, on as a first-half substitute for Wilfried Bony, crafted a glorious chance for the in-form De Bruyne, but a miscued attempt at a flicked finish saw the Belgian miss from a few yards out. Twitter football commentator Sergi Dominguez was left unimpressed:
Sergio Aguero's absence was telling, as City longed for a recognised frontman, with 19-year-old Kelechi Iheanacho replacing Sterling late on in an attempt to turn the tide, but Villa held out.
A precious point sees the Villans remain at the base of the table, while the Citizens are level on points with Arsenal at the top.
Saturday Roundup
Manchester City's draw on Sunday will have been welcomed by the likes of Manchester United and Leicester City, both of whom won their Saturday outings and are now closer to the Premier League perch.
The Foxes remained in third after defeating Watford 2-1, thanks to strikes from N'Golo Kante and this season's Mr. Reliable in front of goal, Jamie Vardy, leaving ex-Leicester striker Gary Lineker to heap his praise on manager Claudio Ranieri:
A Troy Deeney penalty proved nothing more than a consolation for the Hornets, but that was more than West Bromwich Albion could muster in their trip to Old Trafford, where they suffered a 2-0 defeat.
In his first Premier League start for the Red Devils this season, Jesse Lingard opened the scoring, before Juan Mata added a second from the penalty spot. Further starts could follow for the former, according to football writer Samuel Jay C:
In the evening fixture, defending champions Chelsea suffered their second defeat to Stoke City in the space of three weeks, falling 1-0 at the Britannia Stadium thanks to a Marko Arnautovic volley.
The Blues are in 16th, having taken 11 points from their 12 league games this season. Manager Jose Mourinho was absent from the sidelines on Saturday as he served a one-match stadium ban.
Elsewhere, Everton and West Ham United played to a 1-1 draw at Upton Park, where Manuel Lanzini put the Hammers ahead only for Romelu Lukaku to cancel out with a strike of his own just before half-time.
A Dusan Tadic penalty was enough to give Southampton a 1-0 win over struggling Sunderland on Saturday, keeping the Saints in seventh and leading manager Ronald Koeman to state his side can clinch European football, per Sky Sports:
"I think if we reach European football, it would be like we had won the title. Of course it's possible. Why not? Why not? Do you think it's possible? We have the experience from last year.
We know it's difficult because it's not easy to beat big teams, big clubs after 38 games in the Premier League. But we have potential, we have qualities, in my opinion, we have a squad now to fight for that. That's very good, that's positive and we will see what happens at the end of the season.
"
Newcastle United and Norwich City also won by 1-0 margins, defeating Bournemouth and Swansea City respectively in results that took both teams away from the bottom three.
The Magpies moved out of the relegation zone and up to 17th following their win at Dean Court, while the Canaries climbed to 15th after sealing their first clean sheet of the Premier League season.
