Man City maintained their one point advantage at the top of the English Premier League thanks to a 3-1 victory at home to Watford on Saturday evening. Raheem Sterling scored all the goals for the Cityzens while Gerard Deulofeu struck the visitors consolation.
City remain a point above Liverpool who also took care of business on Sunday as they overcame Burnley 4-2 at Anfield. A brace apiece by Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino did the damage for the Kops while Ashley Westwood and Johann Berg Gudhmundsson scored for Burnley.
In the race for the other two top four spots, Tottenham lost, Chelsea drew while Arsenal beat Man United.
Despite taking the lead away to Southampton, Tottenham lost 2-1 on Saturday, Chelsea required a late Eden Hazard equalizer to draw 1-1 at home to Wolves while Arsenal moved into fourth thanks to a 2-0 win at home to Man United, with Granit Xhaka and Pierre Emerrick Aubameyang scoring the goals for Unai Emre’s side.
After the weekend’s results, Spurs remain third on 61 points, Arsenal are now fourth on 60, Man United drop into 5th (58) while Chelsea are 6th with 57.
Elsewhere, Leicester City, Brighton, Newcastle, Cardiff City and AFC Bournemouth also triumphed in their respective outings this past weekend.
Here are the IX players that stood out in game week 29 according to PML Daily Sports Editor, Shaban Lubega, in a 4:2:2:2 formation.
GK: Bernd Leno (Arsenal).
Clean sheets have been hard to come by for Arsenal and Leno but on Sunday, the German produced a magnificent display as his side defeated Man United 2-0. It was Leno’s 5th clean sheet in 18 games.
RB: Willy Boly (Wolves).
Boly made 10 clearances and won 100 per cent of his aerial duels in Wolves 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea.
CB: Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Arsenal).
Sokratis made four clearances, two tackles and one interception as well as helping Arsenal to keep a clean sheet in their victory over Manchester United.
CB: Lewis Dunk (Crystal Palace).
Dunk blocked four shots, made five clearances and provided an assist for Glenn Murray’s opener in Brighton’s 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace.
LB: Ainsley Maitland Niles (Arsenal).
No Arsenal player made more interceptions (five) or blocks (one) against Manchester United than Maitland-Niles.
MF: Granit Xhaka (Arsenal).
What a strike by Xhaka to hand Arsenal the lead against United! The Swiss international was at his absolute best on Sunday, making several telling interceptions throughout the game.
MF: Ryan Fraser (Bournemouth).
Fraser made an assist and scored a goal as Bournemouth defeated Huddersfield away from home.
FW: Raheem Sterling (Man City).
Sterling scored his hat-trick in 13 minutes and 12 seconds in the 3-1 win over Watford, the fastest in the Premier League since Romelu Lukaku’s for Everton v Sunderland in September 2016 (11:37)
FW: Sadio Mane (Liverpool).
Mane has become the fifth Liverpool player to score in six consecutive home appearances in the Premier League, after Michael Owen, Fernando Torres, Luis Suarez and Mohamed Salah.
ST: Robert Firmino (Liverpool).
Firmino has now scored 10+ goals in all four of his Premier League seasons with Liverpool, the best 100 per cent record of reaching double figures of any player for the club in the competition.
ST: Jamie Vardy (Leicester City).
Struck twice as Leicester City powered past Fulham, 3-1 on Saturday.
