So this ended up being a really bad night for Arsenal, as all of their rivals picked up an easy three points. Plus a great win for West Ham and Swansea look dead and buried.
Sunderland 0-1 Chelsea
Starting with the league leaders, who moved six points clear at the top of the Premier League after Arsenal's defeat opened the door. But without star player Eden Hazard this was a result that Chelsea were forced to work for. Without Hazard, Willian came into the side, as well as Fabregas for Matic, and both proved their worth to this team, as it was Fabregas who scored, and Willian who assisted him. But more than that, both players turned in all-round good performances, with Willian coming close on a couple of other occasions, including a shot that was deflected onto the bar.
But more than the goals that they've scored, what will boost Chelsea is the 8th clean sheet in their run of 10 straight wins. This is their third 1-0 win in five games against lower opposition, showing that at the moment they're grinding out results. Liverpool's opposition might be calling them the best team in the league, but Chelsea are six points clear of them for a reason.
That said, there were plenty of signs in this game that sooner or later Chelsea will slip up, as Thibaut Courtois was forced into two outstanding saves, including one in the last minute to keep out Van Aanholt. Whilst it's obviously hyperbolic to describe it as a title-winning save, it is nevertheless the kind of save that wins teams titles. A world class goalkeeper can be the difference between three points and one point, or one point and no points, and with Liverpool's goalkeepers in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, it wouldn't be unfair to suggest that right now, the biggest difference between the two top title contenders at the moment is the standard of keeping.
I've been saying for weeks that this Chelsea side have not played as well as their results have suggested. But I've also been saying that that's completely irrelevant if they keep playing well enough to win their games, and beat what's put in front of them. If you play well enough to beat Sunderland 1-0 one week, and well enough to beat City 3-1 in another, then as long as your performance is good enough to beat your on the day opposition then that's all that matters.
That said, Chelsea cannot afford to get over-confident. Their bubble will burst at some point, and there will be teams snapping at their heels when they do. Nevertheless, their next three games are extremely winnable, and Chelsea will fancy their chances of not just holding their six point lead, but extending it going into their game at White Hart Lane in the New Year, as Liverpool and Arsenal both have to face Man City before the year is out.
On the other hand, Sunderland. With the exception of their drubbing at Swansea, Sunderland have been much better in recent weeks and would probably have taken 0-1 at the start of play, with how impressive Chelsea have been in the last few months. But nevertheless, they have a really tough run of fixtures coming up, and could do with three points against Watford at the weekend to keep themselves afloat. They're now four points from safety, effectively five points considering their goal difference. They're in trouble.
Tottenham 3-0 Hull
What a player Christian Eriksen is when he's at his best. He's been massively below par for most of this season, but in recent weeks has started to find his form, orchestrating the demolitions of Hull and Swansea. And whilst Spurs fans will probably be asking why their team can't play this well against the likes of Man United or Chelsea (spoiler alert: Spurs aren't as good as they think they are), they'd still nevertheless have taken a collective 8-0 win over two of the league's bottom three.
And Eriksen was the destroyer in chief here again, with two goals and an assist from an expertly-taken free kick to put Hull to the sword. Spurs' full-backs were looking somewhere close to their fluent attacking best in this game, as first Rose and then Walker set up Eriksen for his two goals, with some great running and crossing. If the first goal was a decent finish from Eriksen then his second was a tap in, but in both cases he had his full-back to thank. And the third goal, a magnificent free kick tipped onto the woodwork before Wanyama smashed in the rebound, just put the gloss on Spurs' and Eriksen's perfomance.
Spurs face a really tough run of games after they play Burnley at home at the weekend. Trips to Southampton and Watford followed by a home game to Chelsea which looks a must-win if Spurs still harbour anything close to title hopes, and they still have to go to the Etihad before January is out, as well as facing a West Brom side in very good form that is also Spurs' bogey side. With all of that in mind, such a comprehensive win against a side that they should be beating will be very welcome.
But Hull can take some heart from this game, as Spurs didn't have it all their own way. Hull had quite a few good chances at 1-0 to get back into the game, with Hugo Lloris being forced into some top saves. Nevertheless, Hull are in trouble. The worst defensive record in the league, and scoring just 14 goals, one more than Boro, is pretty pitiful. Their game at the weekend against West Ham is suddenly looking like a must-win, with West Brom, Everton and City all to come. Hull could be in dire straits by New Year's Day.
Crystal Palace 1-2 Man United
And breathe. A frenetic, fabulous game of football saw Man United secure back to back Premier League games for the first time since August, with a late goal from Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Really, this is a game that's difficult to judge, because the overriding factor in this fixture was the level of absolutely appalling officiating, and it's almost impossible to say whether it levels out or not.
Neither manager will be particularly happy, but you have to say that on balance, Alan Pardew probably is the most hard done by. United should have been down to ten men before half time, with Marcus Rojo going in for another disgusting two-footed lunge, his second in ten days. Even if publicly Mourinho shrugged it off, comparing it to Danny Rose's bad, but not horrific tackle on Mkhitaryan, privately he'll be fuming that his player did something so stupid less than two weeks after luckily escaping a red card for doing the exact same thing. What's more, when United did take the lead, right on half time, it should have been chalked off, as Paul Pogba was stood in an offside position when Ibrahimovic handed the ball to him, quite literally.
But United will argue that things leveled themselves up after the break. And certainly in terms of the goals tally that was true, as they had a goal wrongfully chalked off for offisde, and should have had a penalty when Joe Ledley literally punched the ball clear. Both of these came after an excellently worked equaliser from Palace, with James McArthur slotting home.
But ultimately, United deserved to win the game on balance. Hennessey had to make some top saves, particularly to deny Wayne Rooney, Pogba was running the show, and Palace's only outlet was Wilf Zaha, whose final ball let the side down on a few occasions. This is the first time United have scored two goals in a league game since their win at Swansea, and only the second time since they beat Leicester 4-1, but back to back wins and goals on the board will give Jose Mourinho a huge sigh of relief.
Despite their torrid start to the season, United could well find themselves ending the year inside the top four. Spurs and City as mentioned have horrible sets of fixtures and in their next three/four games, United have a very nice run. A trip to the Hawthorns isn't particularly fun but winnable, and then two banker home wins against Sunderland and Boro to round off 2016. Nine points from those games, and suddenly City and Spurs are under pressure.
As for Palace, they remain three points clear of the drop zone and face a nasty home game against Chelsea at the weekend. But from their perspective, it's just about winning their home games against the sides in and around them, and they should have more than enough to be fine. Swansea at home on 3rd January is one such big game.
Man City 2-0 Watford
City returned to winning ways with a much needed 2-0 win over Watford. This was City back to somewhere near their best with wonderful passing, fluid movement and two excellent goals. Whilst this wasn't quite a vintage performance, and like Hull Watford missed a handful of decent chances at 1-0, to score twice without a recognised striker and keep a clean sheet is a solid day's work.
The first goal was a goal scored by sheer weight of numbers. Kevin De Bruyne was freed down the left and put in a good cross, but the key to this move was that City had five players causing problems inside the box. Usually when a player gets free inside the box it's because of bad defending but there were simply too many men for Watford to get organised quickly enough, allowing Zabaleta to sneak in at the back post and finish the move.
And the second goal was a classic City clinical counter-attack with the once again terrific David Silva and the restored Raheem Sterling combining for the former to smash home the goal that killed the game. Watford, missing Okaka through injury, missed a couple of guilt-edged chances at 1-0, with Igahlo volleying over and Capoue's shot from a tight angle kept out by Bravo, but City fans will make the reasonable point that they made more than enough chances to kill the game off before that point anyway, with Gomes denying the likes of Nolito and De Bruyne, and Raheem Sterling's shot rattling the bar.
Overall, a welcome return to form for City, needing all the points that they can muster at the moment as they attempt to keep the pace with Chelsea, and also prevent Spurs or United sneaking up behind them, especially with Liverpool and Arsenal in their next three games. As for Watford, as I said in my preview, this sort of game is one where they just have to take what they can get, and move on to the next one.
West Brom 3-1 Swansea
Minor rant incoming. Swansea are bad. We knew this. Their defence is not so much relegation worthy as it is an absolute embarrassment, a back four that would struggle to keep a clean sheet in the Championship. They aren't amongst the league's worse in terms of attacking, streets above the likes of Hull and Boro, but defensively they are a shambles.
But even so. Even so. Come on. I mean, really. You can just about excuse the first goal. West Brom are very good off set pieces, it was an excellent ball in and Rondon made a good movement. We know that Swansea's set piece organisation is a bit all over the place. These things happen. Stunning header from Rondon, 1-0.
So from that moment on, aware of how good Rondon is in the air, and that West Brom are capable of good crosses, you would think that the prerogative would be to 1) stop the crosses coming in and 2) mark Rondon closely.
Or, you can do what Swansea did, which is neither of those things. Take absolutely nothing away from West Brom. But the second and third goals were so painfully simple. Excellent cross from Brunt on the left, completely unchallenged. Pick out Rondon, who only has to make a simple, sharp movement to earn himself all the time and space in the world to pick the header. Twice. In three minutes. Ten minutes after conceding a header to Rondon, Swansea allowed him two free headers inside the box in three minutes, having done nothing to stop the cross.
How were they expecting to defend this? If you don't stop the cross, and if you don't mark the main man in the box, West Brom's only real aerial threat, then what are you doing? I can accept that Swansea haven't replaced Ashley Williams but for goodness sake. This was an absolute shambles.
Swansea need to sort their defence out, or they can forget about a relegation dogfight, they'll be heading straight to the Championship if this continues. As for West Brom, this was a great result, that sees them move 7th again, back ahead of Everton. They'll fancy their chances against United at the weekend.
West Ham 1-0 Burnley
Burnley's wretched away form continued as West Ham picked up a vital win at the Olympic Stadium. On a midweek where seven of the bottom eight lost, West Ham picked up a massive three points courtesy of Mark Noble's rebound off his own penalty.
West Ham dominated the first half, Noble and Obiang hitting the woodwork before Noble's penalty was saved by Heaton, with the ball fortunately spilling back to Noble who smashed in the rebound. Wonderful ranged efforts from Noble and Obiang had crashed into the woodwork before Ben Mee clattered Winston Reid from behind off a corner for a stonewall pen.
After the break Burnley knocked on the door, with Vokes missing two really big chances and Randolph forced into some top saves. But overall, West Ham shaded the chances, and just about deserved what could be a really crucial three points in May.
Stoke 0-0 Southampton
And finally. Stoke will be very happy with a point in this game, given that Saints were totally dominant from start to finish, even before Marko Arnautovic was sent off for a late and high tackle. For me it wasn't quite as bad as it looked, and Boufal certainly made the most of it, but I also don't think Stoke can have too many complaints, it probably was on balance a red card, even if I would consider it a borderline decision.
But Southampton's problems in front of goal plagued them again, as they were unable to break down a resolute Stoke side, with Eric Pieters forced to clear off the line as it was an all hands to the pump defensive effort from the Potters. Boufal missed a really really golden chance by opting to pass rather than shoot, and Lee Grant was forced into some decent saves, but the Southampton waves of attack never turned into a tangible reward.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Lallana and Origi. Class acts.
- Jimmy to miss the 5th test. Shame.
- Ballance named Yorkshire's captain. Leader.
- Hartley back for the Six Nations. Fortunate.
The big one. Liverpool are missing Joel Matip and Phillipe Coutinho, with City welcoming back Sergio Aguero. Liverpool are one of the league's two unbeaten teams at home, whilst City have the second best away form in the division. Honestly, I think this could easily be a repeat of both Liverpool v City league games last season, where Liverpool just ran City off the park and destroyed them. We saw Spurs do it to them earlier in the season, and City have been far from their best in recent weeks. But really, this is a tough one to call and should be a goalfest. 
