Manchester City thumped Crystal Palace 3-0 on Sunday (Monday AEDT) to move back to within two points of Premier League leaders Arsenal as Aston Villa kept up their surprise title charge by beating West Ham 3-2.
Elsewhere, Nottingham Forest demolished struggling Tottenham 3-0, while Sunderland saw off local rivals Newcastle 1-0 thanks to a Nick Woltemade own goal.
Arsenal, who have set the pace this season, squeaked home on Saturday with a 2-1 win against bottom-club Wolves, thanks to two own goals. That put the pressure back on City, who have been showing ominous signs that they are finding their feet in recent weeks.
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Pep Guardiola’s men braced for a tough task at Selhurst Park against high-flying Palace and had to withstand pressure from the home side.
But they were clinical, with two goals from the ruthless Erling Haaland and one from Phil Foden.
“It is a really tough place to come,” City boss Guardiola told Sky Sports. “When you lose the ball, they attack incredibly well but we were patient.
“We were lucky when they hit the post from (Adam) Wharton but really pleased for the performance and victory to grow our mentality.”
He added: “Erling is a forward to score the goals but in the second half he keeps the ball. He was able to contain situations. He helped us be together. In the second half he was outstanding.”
Oliver Glasner’s Palace, who beat City in last season’s FA Cup final, squandered their chances in the first half, with Yeremy Pino hitting the bar when he had only goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to beat.
Haaland was a largely peripheral figure but came alive shortly before half-time, heading a pinpoint Matheus Nunes cross across Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson to give City the lead.
Palace again started the second half brightly and Wharton cracked a low drive against the base of the post.
But they paid the price for their wayward finishing when Foden drilled expertly into the bottom corner after a powerful run from Rayan Cherki to double the visitors’ lead.
City added gloss to the scoreline when Haaland thundered a penalty past Henderson after Savinho was taken down by the goalkeeper following a surging run late in the game.
Villa started their match at the London Stadium as the form team in the league, with nine wins in 10 matches.
The visitors fell behind twice, to Mateus Fernandes’ goal after just 29 seconds and a poacher’s strike from Jarrod Bowen.
But a Konstantinos Mavropanos own goal cancelled out the opener and Morgan Rogers hauled Villa level at 2-2, before the England midfielder capped a sparkling performance with a stunning shot from outside the box.
The victory leaves Unai Emery’s men just three points behind Arsenal, while West Ham remain stuck in the relegation zone.
It is an astonishing turnaround for Villa, who did not score a single Premier League goal in their first four matches of the season.
Two goals from Callum Hudson-Odoi and a screamer from Ibrahim Sangare gave Forest a comfortable victory over troubled Spurs and lifted Sean Dyche’s Forest five points above the drop zone.
Under-fire Tottenham manager Thomas Frank, who replaced Australian Ange Postecoglou, insisted he would be given time to solve their issues.
“I can’t see why not. I think it’s pretty evident that if no one gets the time, no one can turn this around. This is not a quick fix,” he said.
Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario was slammed by former England player Dean Ashton for a poor error on Hudson-Odoi’s second goal, just after half-time. The Italian gloveman misjudged what was intended as a cross from Hudson-Odoi, and it looped over his head and found the net at the far post.
“It’s just terrible goalkeeping. It’s not as if it’s been whipped right to the top corner,” Ashton said on talkSPORT.
“It’s just gone in the middle of the goal over the top of Vicario, who’s flapped a hand at it. He missed it, misjudged the flight of it.
“Really, really poor goalkeeping. Another gift for Forest, who have been on top at the start of the second half.”
Ashton continued a searing bake by branding Vicario’s error unforgivable at Premier League level. He said that Tottenham were stuck with the keeper as first choice.
“I don’t really think you can argue too much about shot stopping. I think he’s outstanding in that aspect,” he said.
“But there are other aspects including playing out today. Obviously it’s silly mistakes, being maybe weak from set plays and crosses at times as well in his Tottenham career.
“The problem is they’ve got (Antonin) Kinsky on the bench, who is still a very young goalkeeper. It’s not as if they’ve got a real senior goalkeeper that they could genuinely turn to, to maybe just take the sting out of the situation for Vicario.
“There’s no real answer as to why you would make such a simple mistake at this level. You just can’t. That’s like missing a tapping from six yards. It’s not really forgivable at this level.”
Newcastle are languishing in 12th place in the table after sinking to a 1-0 defeat at the home of local rivals Sunderland, courtesy of Woltemade’s blunder in the opening minutes of the second half.
The two teams were facing each other for the first time in the Premier League for nearly a decade after the Black Cats’ recent return to the top division.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin extended his hot streak as Leeds rescued a 1-1 draw at Brentford.
Jordan Henderson bagged his first goal for Brentford in the 70th minute, but Calvert-Lewin notched his fourth goal in his last four games with an 82nd minute header.
Leeds sit three points above the relegation zone, while Brentford are seven points ahead of the bottom three.
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