Premier League Boxing Day reports: Aston Villa, Man City and Everton all win
Aston Villa moved to 25 points and up to sixth in the Premier League with an impressive 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace, while Fulham and Southampton played out a hard fought 0-0 draw.
Boxing Day Premier League results
- Leicester City 2-2 Manchester United - full report
- Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea - full report
- Aston Villa 3-0 Crystal Palace
- Fulham 0-0 Southampton
- Manchester City 2-0 Newcastle
- Sheffield United 0-1 Everton
City sweep Newcastle aside
Ilkay Gundogan and Ferran Torres struck in each half as Manchester City claimed a comfortable 2-0 win over Newcastle.
Gundogan put Pep Guardiola’s side ahead, delivering a 15/4 winner for Sporting Life readers, on a wet Boxing Day night after fine work from Raheem Sterling with 14 minutes gone at the Etihad Stadium.
Torres added the second early in the second half and Bernardo Silva hit the post as City, who face a trip to Everton on Monday, eased to victory.
Both sides were without key players following positive Covid-19 tests, with City’s Gabriel Jesus and Kyle Walker following Newcastle pair Allan Saint-Maximin and Jamaal Lascelles into self-isolation.
Not surprisingly, it was star-studded City who coped with the absences better.
The Magpies started positively but they failed to catch City cold and a couple of promising early attacks fizzled out.
Joao Cancelo then played Raheem Sterling into the area with a fine ball and the England forward showed great footwork to turn inside and cut back for Gundogan to sweep home from close range.
City doubled their lead on 55 minutes after Almiron gave the ball away just outside his own box.
Cancelo pressed forward and despite a desperate attempt by Fernandez to clear his cross, the ball went straight to Torres and the Spaniard rifled in.
Everton edge Sheffield United
Gylfi Sigurdsson’s strike propelled Everton to second place in the Premier League table as a 1-0 win for the Toffees, a 15/8 winner for Tom Carnduff's Premier League tips, piled more misery on bottom club Sheffield United.
Sigurdsson scored 10 minutes from time to give Carlo Ancelotti’s team a fourth straight Premier League victory, moving them to within two points of Merseyside rivals and reigning champions Liverpool.
For the Blades, it was yet another defeat. Chris Wilder’s side have lost 13 of their 15 Premier League matches and are only the third club in top flight history to be without a win on Boxing Day, after Burnley in 1889-90 and Bolton in 1902-03.
The blustery conditions at Bramall Lane made things tough for both teams and there were few clear-cut chances in the game.
But as it wore on, Everton were knocking on the door more and more. They made the breakthrough with 10 minutes remaining when Sigurdsson scored to give them the lead, beating Aaron Ramsdale with a low shot following some good build-up play involving Abdoulaye Doucoure and Bernard.
It was the only real moment of quality in the match and it was a huge blow for the Blades, who once again had been firmly in the contest but faced the prospect of losing by a single goal margin for the 10th time in the Premier League this season.
Wilder’s side threw all they had at Everton in the closing stages but the visitors seemed confident backing themselves to see out the game with 10 men behind the ball.
Villa finally flying again at home
Aston Villa continued their fine run of form with a 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace despite playing with 10 men for more than half the match.
The hosts led through Bertrand Traore’s early opener and should have been further ahead when Tyrone Mings was shown two yellow cards in quick succession just before half-time.
Palace were unable to take advantage, though, failing to seriously test Emi Martinez in a second half that saw Kortney Hause and Anwar El Ghazi extend Villa’s lead.
Palace have now conceded 10 goals in two matches after last weekend’s hammering by Liverpool.
It was Villa who took the lead with less than five minutes on the clock. Traore played in Ollie Watkins down the right and was on hand to thump the ball into the net when goalkeeper Vicente Guaita parried Watkins’ shot into the middle of the box.
With 39 minutes on the clock, Mings and Zaha were both shown yellow cards for some argy-bargy following a foul by the Palace man on John McGinn.
The hosts’ failure to add to their lead became a more worrying issue in the 45th minute when Mings stuck out an arm to block Zaha and was shown a second yellow.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Villa continued to enjoy the better of the game in the early stages of the second half.
And the second goal that arrived in the 66th minute was no more than they deserved. Palace failed to defend an El Ghazi free-kick, Watkins headed against the crossbar and Hause followed up to score his second Premier League goal for Villa.
With Palace forced to commit more men forward, Villa looked even more dangerous, and, after Watkins saw a shot blocked, the impressive winger teed-up El Ghazi for his fourth goal in four games – a fine, curling effort in off the far post.
VAR denies Southampton at Fulham
Southampton had two goals disallowed by VAR as they were held to a goalless draw at Fulham.
Shane Long and Theo Walcott both looked to have broken the deadlock for the visitors in the second half, only to have their efforts ruled out for offside on review as Saints slipped to eighth in the table.
The Cottagers played out their fourth consecutive draw and did so in the absence of their manager Scott Parker, who remains in self-isolation after a member of his household tested positive for coronavirus.
There were just three shots on target during the game, with possession also evenly shared between the sides.
The home side felt they should have had a penalty after a ball from Lookman was flicked onto Jan Bednarek’s arm, which was close to his body, but referee Darren England allowed the game to continue and VAR affirmed the referee’s decision on review.
Southampton then appeared to have taken the lead late in the second half when Ryan Bertrand’s cross found Long and he slotted the ball past the goalkeeper, but the striker was found to be offside.
Walcott then suffered the same fate after he appeared to have netted a late winner from an Adams cross, with the latter deemed to be in an offside position when he made the run in behind.