After a 7-0 defeat to Liverpool at home and a 3-0 loss to 10-man Aston Villa, Crystal Palace were poor throughout the first half against Leicester City and only got to half time goalless after their goalkeeper Vicente Guaita saved a penalty from the away team’s striker Kelechi Iheanacho in the 19th minute. Palace were much more threatening after half time and took the lead when Wilfried Zaha finished superbly from Andros Townsend's cross. However, the goal was cancelled out by Harvey Barnes to rescue Leicester City a point.
Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Aston Villa. This was only the seventh point picked up by Villa in their last 16 visits to Stamford Bridge. It was hard earned and deserved, Dean Smith’s side responded to Olivier Giroud’s header through Anwar El Ghazi's volley as they came from behind to rescue a point in southwest London.
Arsenal came away with three points as they managed to beat Brighton by one goal to nil at the Amex on 29 December. Alexander Lacazette provided a goal for the Gunners just 22 seconds after being subbed on. Brighton were effective at creating goal scoring opportunities from set pieces. However, they were poor at finishing.
More points were dropped by Southampton as they failed to score in a goalless draw to West Ham at home. Both sides were poor at finishing and lost possession quite often. West Ham will be happy with a point away from home against a strong Southampton side.
Onto West Bromwich Albion vs Leeds, the most entertaining match of the week by a mile. Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds side thrashed the Baggies by five goals to none at The Hawthorns in their joint biggest ever league win. Very disappointing result for West Brom, after stealing a point from the champions at Anfield last week. They were expecting more from this game.
Sheffield United lost yet another game as Sean Dyche’s Burnley managed to pick up all three points through a single goal from Ben Mee, 32 minutes into the game. The Blades sit in 20th place with just two points from 16 Premier League games this season. Will they break Derby County’s record for the least points won in a Premier League season? I think they will, at this rate. A lot of things will have to change for Chris Wilder's men to remain in the Premier League.
Manchester United won at the death against Wolves as Marcus Rashford's shot took a deflection off of Romain Säiss in the 93rd minute of the game to give Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side all three points at Old Trafford. The Red Devils are now second in the league despite a poor start in the first few games of the season.
Tottenham Hotspur’s home game against Fulham was postponed on 30 December due to multiple Coronavirus cases at Fulham. It is unknown when the match will be played.
Liverpool dropped even more points as they failed to score against Newcastle in a 0-0 draw. A Karl Darlow-inspired Newcastle United saw the Magpies pick up a huge point against the current holders. Four points dropped in three days against West Brom and Newcastle will have Reds manager Jurgen Klopp concerned.