EPL Results Week 19: Wednesday's 2018 Premier League Scores, Top Scorers, Table
Mohamed Salah moved onto 12 Premier League goals for the season after striking a penalty during Liverpool's 4-0 win over Newcastle United at Anfield on Boxing Day.
The Reds stretched their lead at the top to six points after Manchester City lost for the second match running. City losing again meant Tottenham Hotspur's 5-0 win over Bournemouth at Wembley lifted the Lilywhites up to second.
Harry Kane joined Salah on 12 goals after completing the scoring for in-form Spurs.
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However, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang remains the most prolific striker in England's top flight after netting Arsenal's only goal during a disappointing 1-1 draw away to Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Gunners remain outside the top four because Chelsea won at Watford thanks to a brace from Eden Hazard. Those goals took the Blues' attacking talisman into double digits in the league and 101 for his Chelsea career.
Goals were also easy to come by for Manchester United, who won for a second match running under caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Once again Paul Pogba led the way, as he scored twice for a team resurgent following Jose Mourinho's sacking.
Like Spurs, Everton hit five as the Toffees staged a terrific recovery after losing 6-2 at home to Tottenham last time out. Relegation-threatened Burnley were the unfortunate victims as Gylfi Sigurdsson and Richarlison were among those on the scoresheet.
The relegation battle took a few turns when Wolverhampton Wanderers equalised late on to deny Fulham an important win. A draw was still good enough to move the Cottagers up to 19th, though, on a day when Huddersfield and Burnley lost, while Crystal Palace were held at home by Cardiff City.
Saturday Results
- Fulham 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
- Burnley 1-5 Everton
- Crystal Palace 0-0 Cardiff City
- Leicester City 2-1 Manchester City
- Liverpool 4-0 Newcastle United
- Manchester United 3-1 Huddersfield Town
- Tottenham Hotspur 5-0 Bournemouth
- Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Arsenal
- Watford 1-2 Chelsea
Top Scorers (Players, Club and Goals, per the division's official website)
1. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Arsenal: 13
2. Mohamed Salah, Liverpool: 12
2. Harry Kane, Tottenham Hotspur: 12
4. Eden Hazard, Chelsea: 10
5. Richarlison, Everton: 9
5. Raheem Sterling, Manchester City: 9
7. Sergio Aguero, Manchester City: 8
7. Anthony Martial, Manchester United: 8
7. Glenn Murray, Brighton & Hove Albion: 8
7. Gylfi Sigurdsson, Everton: 8
7. Callum Wilson, Bournemouth: 8
12. Danny Ings, Southampton: 7
12. Sadio Mane, Liverpool: 7
12. Aleksandar Mitrovic, Fulham: 7
12. Heung-Min Son, Tottenham Hotspur: 7
Standings (Played, Won, Goal Difference and Points, per the league's official website)
1. Liverpool: 19, 16, +36, 51
2. Tottenham Hotspur: 19, 15, +24, 45
3. Manchester City: 19, 14, +36, 44
4. Chelsea: 19, 12, +21, 40
5. Arsenal: 19, 11, +16, 38
6. Manchester United: 19, 9, +6, 32
7. Leicester City: 19, 8, +2, 28
8. Everton: 19, 7, +2, 27
9. Watford: 19, 8, -1, 27
10. Wolverhampton Wanderers: 19, 7, -2, 26
11. Bournemouth: 19, 8, -6, 26
12. West Ham United: 18, 7, -2, 24
13. Brighton & Hove Albion: 19, 6, -6, 22
14. Crystal Palace: 19, 5, -8, 19
15. Newcastle United: 19, 4, -12, 17
16. Southampton: 18, 3, -14, 15
17. Cardiff City: 19, 4, -20, 15
18. Burnley: 19, 3, -24, 12
19. Fulham: 19, 2, -26, 11
20. Huddersfield Town: 19, 2, -22, 10
Salah made Liverpool's day comfortable when he stroked home from 12 yards two minutes after the restart. The successful conversion added to Dejan Lovren's 12th-minute volley, while also putting Salah into some select company among the club's most prolific goalscorers:
It's difficult to bet against Salah moving up the list when he has one home game left in 2018, Saturday's visit of Arsenal.
Backing anyone other than Liverpool to take the title is also becoming tough after Xherdan Shaqiri and the increasingly impressive Fabinho padded the score late on.
Liverpool's control in every area is in stark contrast to a City side suddenly faltering at both ends. The Citizens struggled to turn possession into chances at the King Power Stadium, despite having Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne back in the starting XI.
It was left to Bernardo Silva to give the champions an early lead after 14 minutes. The advantage didn't last long, though, as a City defence exposed during the recent 3-2 home defeat to Crystal Palace was punctured again.
This time, Jamie Vardy picked out Marc Albrighton to cap a swift and sweet counter.
Leicester earned all three points when wing-back Ricardo Pereira lashed in a winner from distance nine minutes from time. The worthy effort means City are now in unfamiliar territory as the weak link in the title race.
Spurs look anything but weak after Christian Eriksen, Heung-Min Son and Lucas Moura joined Kane on the scoresheet. Son's sixth and seventh league goals continued his purple patch in England's top flight.
Meanwhile, Moura adding his sixth underlined the attacking muscle that's keeping Spurs relevant in the tussle for the title:
Arsenal appeared to be sauntering toward a worthy away result when Aubameyang scored after just seven minutes. The swept finish continued the 29-year-old's stellar recent run, while also maintaining his deadly partnership with fellow striker Alexandre Lacazette:
Yet for all their goals, the Gunners often remain on the brink of calamity defensively. A mix-up between Stephan Lichtsteiner and nervy goalkeeper Bernd Leno allowed Jurgen Locadia to profit.
Watford were more than in the game against Chelsea until confusion in midfield let the previously quiet Hazard in. A poor pass from Etienne Capoue forced Abdoulaye Doucoure to mis-control.
Chelsea made the break count when Hazard finished coolly to net a landmark goal:
It took Hazard to score again, this time from the penalty spot, after Roberto Pereyra had equalised for Watford after netting for the sixth time in the league.
United are back among the goals after scoring eight in two matches on Solskjaer's watch. He's made greater attacking impetus a priority since replacing Mourinho.
No United player has responded better than Pogba. The mercurial midfield man didn't warm to Mourinho, but his two-goal haul to see off the Terriers showed Pogba is loving the club's recent change in direction:
Nemanja Matic had also added a goal from midfield for a United side still with genuine hope of getting back into the top-four mix.
Everton are unlikely to finish in the UEFA Champions League places but did at least show commendable powers of recovery by hitting five against the Clarets.
Three of those goals came from defenders as Yerry Mina got one, while left-back Lucas Digne produced two spectacular finishes at Turf Moor. Gylfi Sigurdsson scored his eighth league goal of the season by tucking away a penalty on 22 minutes, while Richarlison came off the bench to net his ninth.
Fulham narrowly missed out on three precious points for the battle against relegation when Romain Saiss equalised for Wolves with five minutes to go at Craven Cottage.
Ryan Sessegnon had given the hosts a 74th-minute lead. His goal did at least move the Cottagers off the bottom spot.
Cardiff and Palace remain above the drop zone even though their 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park did neither much good.
