Premier League review: Manchester City reclaim top spot, Brentford cause Chelsea crumble
A round-up of Saturday's Premier League 3pm action, as Chelsea crumble against Christian Eriksen's Brentford and Manchester City swiftly reclaim top spot in the table.
Chelsea 1-4 Brentford
Vitaly Janelt’s quickfire double put Brentford on the brink of Premier League safety after their 4-1 rout of a Chelsea side beset by unrelenting takeover talk.
Christian Eriksen also netted in a win that puts Thomas Frank’s Brentford on the verge of cementing their top-flight status following a hugely impressive debut campaign.
Toni Rudiger hammered home a long-range strike to stun Stamford Bridge and hand Chelsea a 1-0 lead just after half-time.
But Brentford punished Chelsea’s out-of-character defensive disarray three times in six minutes to seal a memorable win for the Bees.
And by the time Yoane Wissa drilled home a fourth at the death, the travelling Brentford fans were in dreamland.
Burnley 0-2 Manchester City
Manchester City made sure they ended the day on top of the Premier League with a comfortable 2-0 win over Burnley.
Responding to Liverpool’s 2-0 lunchtime victory over Watford, first-half goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan restored City’s one-point advantage ahead of a huge week, which includes the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Atletico Madrid and next week’s visit of the Reds.
City had gone 13 points clear after beating Chelsea in January – a figure inflated by the games in hand held by Liverpool – but kicked off at Turf Moor in second place after Jurgen Klopp’s side dispatched Burnley’s relegation rivals for a 10th consecutive league win.
Liverpool would have been hoping for City to feel the pressure, but they needed the fixture list to have thrown up something other than a meeting with Burnley for Pep Guardiola’s men.
Leeds 1-1 Southampton
James Ward-Prowse produced more free-kick magic to earn Southampton a 1-1 draw at Leeds and halt their four-game losing run.
The England midfielder curled home a trademark free-kick early in the second half after Jack Harrison had given Leeds an interval lead.
Southampton had lost their previous three Premier League games before a thumping home FA Cup defeat to Manchester City and will be happier than Leeds with a point.
The home side, chasing a third straight win in their relegation fight, deserved their half-time advantage, but lost their way after the break before being roared on by their fans for another grandstand finish.
Leeds, who edged a point further away from the bottom three, had won their last two games with stoppage-time winners, but it was not to be against the Saints, who were good value for a share of the spoils.
Wolves 2-1 Aston Villa
Wolves maintained their European charge after a deserved Premier League derby win over Aston Villa. Jonny’s rocket and Ashley Young’s own goal earned the hosts a 2-1 win at Molinuex.
Ollie Watkins pulled a goal back with a late penalty but Wolves held their nerve to keep the pressure on in the race for Europe.
Villa have now taken just four points from 39 against teams above them in the top flight this season, underlining both their consistency issues and fallibility against the sides they wish to emulate.
They suffered again to slip 13 points behind their rivals, who move above West Ham into seventh to sit just two points adrift of the top five.
Brighton 0-0 Norwich
A first-half penalty miss by Neal Maupay ensured Brighton and Norwich played out a goalless draw at the Amex Stadium.
The goal-shy hosts dominated throughout against their bottom-of-the-table opponents but saw their usual Achilles heel crop up again.
Maupay had the chance to break the deadlock in the 29th minute but blazed over before he squandered another late chance to ensure a second stalemate of the campaign between the teams.