Yet more drama at the top of the Premier League charts; Manchester City beat Newcastle 4-0, ten-men Liverpool are held by Antonio Conte’s Tottenham, and Chelsea – who had a request to postpone the match turned down – draw at Wolves.
A man-of-the-match performance from full-back Joao Cancelo helped Manchester City maintain their lead at the top of the table and head into Christmas three points ahead of the competition. The Portuguese assisted Ruben Dias in the fifth minute for the opening goal of the game, which the centre-back headed in from close range after a defensive error by Newcastle, and then scored a thunderbolt himself as City went into the break with a two-goal cushion.
After the interval, Riyad Mahrez added a third from an Oleksandr Zinchenko cross. Raheem Sterling completed the rout by tapping in a Gabriel Jesus cross from close range, four minutes from time.
Meanwhile, at Anfield, Jurgen Klopp reunited with Antonio Conte, now in charge of Tottenham Hotspur. The pair had an identical head-to-head record heading into the match, but early signs from Spurs indicated that it would be Conte who would get the bragging rights after the game.
Harry Kane put Spurs ahead in the 13th minute, but Diogo Jota’s header in the 35th killed their momentum, at a time when they threatened to put a couple more past their struggling opponents. After the break, it was Liverpool’s turn to edge themselves in front, which they did through Andrew Robertson.
However, an error by Alisson just five minutes later allowed Son Heung-min to ghost in behind, tap into an empty net, and restore parity. Moments after Spurs’ equalizer, Robertson saw red for a reckless challenge on Emerson Roya, but Conte’s side was kept at bay by the ten Reds until the full-time whistle.
Lastly, a depleted Chelsea drew 0-0 against Wolverhampton; the Blues already six points off the top after leading the league just a couple of weeks earlier. The match took place despite their appeal to have it postponed, citing a minor Covid-19 outbreak among the squad.
Nonetheless, Thomas Tuchel’s men created chances to get more than a point from the game, with Christian Pulisic missing the clearest opportunity – a one-v-one versus Jose Sa – late on. Wolves, however, end up frustrating the Blues, like Everton, Manchester United, and Burnley before them.
