EPL Table: 2018 Standings After Saturday's Week 26 Results and Top Scorers
February 3, 2018
Manchester United gained a little ground on Manchester City at the top of the standings, after the leaders were held by Burnley and the Red Devils beat Huddersfield Town in Week 26.
City manager Pep Guardiola created a minor controversy by naming just six players to his bench, while Alexis Sanchez opened his account for his new club.
Elsewhere, Arsenal dominated Everton and Swansea City earned a draw at Leicester City.
Results
Burnley 1-1 Manchester City
Leicester City 1-1 Swansea City
Manchester United 2-0 Huddersfield Town
West Bromwich Albion 2-3 Southampton
Bournemouth 2-1 Stoke City
Brighton & Hove Albion 3-1 West Ham
Arsenal 5-1 Everton
Standings (Team, Points)
Manchester City, 69
Manchester United, 56
Liverpool, 50
Chelsea, 50
Tottenham Hotspur, 48
Arsenal, 45
Burnley, 36
Leicester, 35
Bournemouth, 31
Everton, 31
Watford, 27
West Ham, 27
Brighton, 27
Southampton, 26
Crystal Palace, 26
Newcastle United, 24
Swansea, 24
Stoke, 24
Huddersfield, 24
West Brom, 20
Harry Kane of Tottenham remains the top scorer, with 21 goals, ahead of Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, on 19. Neither player featured on Saturday. For the full top scorers, visit WhoScored.com.
Recap
A key miss from Raheem Sterling and Guardiola's decision to place just six players on the bench dominated the storylines from City's draw on Saturday. Danilo had given the Citizens the lead, but Johann Berg Gudmundsson tied things up inside the final 10 minutes.
Sterling has been among City's top performers all season long and is the team's second-leading scorer, but he missed a huge chance with 20 minutes left to play. Had he converted, he would have doubled the lead and all but secured the win.
Afterwards, Guardiola had no issues with the result, via Goal's Sam Lee:
In Manchester, Sanchez had an up-and-down match. Early on, he lost possession frequently, but he ended with plenty of positives, including a first goal in the United shirt.
The Chilean was by far the team's most active player and doubled his team's advantage from a rebound, after his penalty was saved by Jonas Lossl. Romelu Lukaku had opened the scoring.
The former Arsenal man showed plenty of positives, but Paddy Power noted some of the fans didn't follow suit (the banner was removed almost immediately):
In the late kick-off, Arsenal ran right through Everton, with Aaron Ramsey scoring a hat-trick and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang adding a debut goal.
Aaron Ramsey opened the scoring early after an assist from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and the Welshman added his second after Laurent Koscielny had doubled his side's lead. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also scored before half-time, leading to this tweet from Footy Accumulators:
The Toffees improved after the break, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin got a consolation goal after 64 minutes. Ramsey would complete his hat-trick, putting the 5-1 final score on the board.