Liverpool now head off for a warm weather training camp in Dubai as they will not feature in this weekends FA Cup fixtures after their loss in the previous round to Wolves.With Liverpool extending their lead to seven points again over Manchester City, the sky blues headed to Huddersfield Town knowing a victory was once again essential. Manchester City came out 3-0 winners in the end which turned out to be a walk-in-the-park for Guardiola’s men. Goals came from a Danilo deflected strike, Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane. This result put City back to within four points of Liverpool, with Guardiola speaking out after the game demanding more from his players as he said: “What we have done so far has been incredible, in the league and the Carabao Cup. We have an incredible number of points. But this game can teach us and show what we have to do to improve.”For Huddersfield, this leaves them still rooted at the bottom of the table on just 11 points, and after well-loved David Wagner left his role by mutual consent due to a burnout at the club, things for the Yorkshire side are not looking so bright.In the early kick-off this weekend, we were treated to a 4-3 thriller as Wolves beat Leicester at the Molineux. A Hat-Trick from Wolves forward Diogo Jota sealed the victory for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team, and he clearly enjoyed it after running onto the pitch to celebrate with his side after the last-minute goal by Jota. This however saw Nuno being sent to the stands, which caused up roar on social media, as people were comparing his actions to those of Jurgen Klopp after Liverpool beat Everton 1-0 back in December, which was refereed by the same official but on that occasion no action was taken.
In the race for Top 4, we saw Arsenal host Chelsea at the Emirates in what looked the pick of the weekend’s fixtures. The game ended with Arsenal coming out 2-0 winners, thanks to a well taken finish from Alexander Lacazette and a header by Laurent Koscielny. Hector Bellerin on his return to the side from injury left the pitch in agony after injuring his knee whilst trying to defend Marcos Alonso, with videos of the injury being shared online, showing graphic images of his knee popping out of place. Across London at Craven Cottage, Spurs came from behind to win in the final minutes of added-time thanks to a goal by Harry Winks, which saw a Spurs side without star striker Harry Kane who is out with injury until March, extend their gap on the chasing pack to four points.Manchester United were 2-1 winners at Old Trafford against Brighton & Hove Albion, with Marcos Rashford scoring the pick of the goals on his 150th appearance for the club. The win sees them now have seven wins out of seven under Solskjear and remain level on points with Arsenal but now just three behind a struggling Chelsea side, setting up what should be a closely fought battle for a Champions League spot.Elsewhere in the league, Callum Wilson scored a worldie on his return as Bournemouth beat West Ham 2-0, no doubt adding a few more million onto his value for the summer transfer window. Further down the league, a resurgent Burnley side drew away from home 0-0 at Watford, whilst Southampton won back-to-back Premier League games after beating Everton 2-1 at St. Mary’s, with James Ward-Prowse scoring the stand out goal of the game with a rocket from outside the box.
In a clash between 17th and 18th in the league, Newcastle came out huge winners after they beat Cardiff City 3-0. Two goals from centre-back Fabian Schar and Ayoze Perez gave Rafa and his men all three points, leap-frogging Cardiff out of the relegation zone. The victory will have returned smiles to the toon faithful, after a week of anger and frustration following comments discussed in last weeks post made by Rio Ferdinand and Richard Keys.After this week’s results, there is only three points separating Palace in 14th to Cardiff in 18th, which looks to set up what could be a very intense and exciting relegation battle for the rest of the season.Away from the pitch, comments made in the post-match press conference by Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri after their loss at Arsenal have made the news. Sarri opted to speak in his native Italian language, allowing him to give a clear message to his players. He spoke about his frustration at the mentality of the players and how he finds his team difficult to motivate, as he said: “You can find yourself in difficulties from time to time, but we need to react to those difficulties a lot better than we did today.”His team will need a quick turn-around as they host Spurs in midweek for their second-leg of the Carabao Cup Semi-Final, which also sees Manchester City in action, all be it having won their first leg against Burton at home 9-0.The next Premier League fixtures will be played in midweek on the 29th and 30th of January. Written by: Samuel HodgkissTwitter: @samuelhodgkiss
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