December 3, 2016
Manchester City 1-3 Chelsea
Gary Cahill 45’(o.g) Diego Costa 60’
Willian 70’
Eden Hazard 90’
A clinical Chelsea defeated a high pressing Manchester City team.
Was this the title decider? We might find out in the near future.
It was the eighth consecutive league victory for Chelsea as they scored four goals to leave the Etihad with a 3-1 victory over Manchester City.
Chelsea came from a goal down to get an important away win and move four points clear of Manchester City on the league table.
Gary Cahill attempt to clear a whipping cross from Jesus Navas resulted in an own goal that gave Manchester City the lead before the break.
In the second half, Chelsea did what they’ve done well throughout the season and found a way to get level.
Chelsea’s first shot on goal resulted in their first goal of the match. Diego Costa’s eleventh goal of the season was the equalizing goal for Chelsea.
Chelsea’s second shot on target resulted in their second goal of the match. Second half substitute Willian finished off a great counter attack with a low shot into the corner of the net.
Chelsea’s third shot on target was their third goal for the team. And again it was a brilliant counter-attack that allowed Eden Hazard to get his eighth goal of the season.
Offensively, Manchester City did enough to win the match. Manchester City would look back at missed chances that could have changed the complexion of the match, especially Kevin de Bruyne.
The end of the match was not pretty. At the final whistle, Manchester City was down two goals and two men.
A reckless tackle from Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero on Chelsea’s David Luiz caused a burst up in the final minutes of the match.
At the end of the commotion, two Manchester City players were sent off on a red card. The culprit Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho were both sent off for violent conduct.
Crystal Palace 3-0 Southampton
Christian Benteke 33’ 85’
James Tomkins 36’
Christian Benteke scored a brace to see Crystal Palace end a streak of six defeats by beating Southampton.
The victory closes the gap in points between the two teams down to three points.
Stoke City 2-0 Burnley
Jonathan Walters 20’
Marc Muniesa 35’
Stoke City remains in the better half of the league table after two first-half goals helped them to a victory while handing Burnley their third consecutive defeat
Sunderland 2-1 Leicester City
Robert Huth 64’(o.g) Shinji Okazaki 80’
Jermain Defoe 77’
If the objective was to defend the league title, Leicester is doing a terrible job in completing it. The defending champions are relegation threatened.
Relegation-zoned Sunderland returned back to their winning ways and grabbed their third victory in the league. The victory doesn’t do enough to get Sunderland out of relegation zone, but progress is very much welcomed for Sunderland.
Tottenham Hotspur 5-0 Swansea City
Harry Kane 39’(pen) 49’
Heung-Min Son 45’+1’
Christian Eriksen 70’. 90’+2’
After a memorable ‘5-4’ victory against Crystal Palace, Swansea City was flattened by Tottenham Hotspur in a ‘5-0’ thrashing.
Both Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen scored a brace to help in the recovery process after their defeat at Chelsea.
West Bromwich Albion 3-1 Watford
Jonny Evans 16’ Christian Kabasele 60’
Chris Brunt 34’
Matthew Phillips 90’+1’
West Bromwich Albion solidified their ambitions of being amongst the top six teams at the end of the season with a win over Watford. Chris Brunt scored the winning goal for West Bromwich in the 34th minute.
West Ham United 1-5 Arsenal
Andy Carroll 83’ Mesut Ozil 24’
Alexis Sanchez 72’ 80’ 86’
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 84’
Five goals were scored in the final 20 minutes of regulation time as Arsenal defeated West Ham and secured an important away victory that keeps the team undefeated in thirteen straight league matches.
Alexis Sanchez scored a hat-trick to move up the scoring sheet to tie Chelsea’s Diego Costa as the top scorers in the Premier League.
Arsenal is three points away from the top of the league.
December 4, 2016
AFC Bournemouth 4-3 Liverpool
Callum Wilson 56’(pen) Sadio Mane 20’
Ryan Fraser 76’ Divock Origi 22’
Steve Cook 79’ Emre Can 64’
Nathan Ake 90’+3’
Football requires that we watch a match until the end, and sometimes it reminds us why. AFC Bournemouth ended Liverpool’s unbeaten run at 11 matches league matches.
After Liverpool went two goals up within two minutes in the first half, it was natural to assume that the points were in the bag for Liverpool to move a point away from the top of the league table.
Bournemouth did the unthinkable and gave to us what is possibly the match of the weekend. On two occasions in this match, Bournemouth’s goal was to overcome a two-goal deficit.
Eddie Howe salutes his @afcBournemouth team after a special #PL win pic.twitter.com/jkjoB4hLnX
— Premier League (@premierleague) December 4, 2016
Callum Wilson scored a second-half penalty to cut Liverpool’s lead in half, but that lasted for about 8 minutes before Liverpool restored their lead back to two goals. Bournemouth was 3-1 down midway through the second half and we were still counting all three points for Liverpool.
Bournemouth scored two goals in the final 15 minutes of regulation time, and their offensive pressure in extra time was rewarded when Liverpool’s goalkeeper Loris Karius failed to get a clean catch to allow Nathan Ake to put in the rebound and get the winning goal for AFC Bournemouth. A big home victory that was done in a memorable way.
Everton 1-1 Manchester United
Leighton Baines 89’(pen) Zlatan Ibrahimovic 42’
A late penalty awarded to Everton allowed for an equalizing goal that made Manchester United finish another match with points dropped.
It was a hard match for both teams. Neither side had control of the match for a long spell.
December 5, 2016
Middlesbrough 1-0 Hull City
Gaston Ramirez 60’
A goal second half goal was the difference between these two newly-promoted teams. Gaston Ramirez 60th-minute goal for Middlesbrough kept Hull City in the relegation zone for at least another week.
