Premier League round-up: Man City take top spot at Liverpool's expense, Rodgers starts at Leices

Round-up:

In Saturday's early kick-off, North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw in a match which was not short of controversy and talking points, although there was not a lot of quality. Aaron Ramsey, who will be joining Juventus in the summer after his contract with Arsenal expires, gave the Gunners the lead inside the opening quarter of an hour after a mistake by Tottenham Hotspur defender Davinson Sanchez. In the second half, Tottenham Hotspur were awarded a penalty after Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi inexplicably pushed Harry Kane in the penalty area, although actually the penalty should not have been given as Kane was offside. Kane calmly converted the resulting spot-kick to level the scoreline. The drama was not over, though, as in the 90th minute Arsenal were awarded a penalty after Davinson Sanchez naively pushed Arsenal striker Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang in the box, even though many argued that it was a soft call. Either way, Arsenal failed to take advantage as Aubameyang saw his weak penalty saved by Hugo Lloris. Arsenal midfielder Lucas Torreira saw red after he was sent off for a reckless lunge on Danny Rose.

Manchester United took full advantage of Arsenal's slip-up to leapfrog them in the table after coming from behind to beat Southampton 3-2. Yann Valery gave the Saints the lead with a wonder goal on the 26th minute. Andreas Pereira equalised for United eight minutes after half-time with his first Premier League goal, a strike which was worth waiting for. Romelu Lukaku gave Manchester United the lead with a calm finish 6 minutes later, before James Ward-Prowse equalised for Southampton with a peach of a free-kick. Lukaku scored his second goal of the game 2 minutes from time to make it 10 wins from 12 League games for Manchester United under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and a late penalty miss from Paul Pogba ultimately proved to be irrelevant. Manchester City edged past South Coast side AFC Bournemouth 1-0 thanks to a goal from Riyad Mahrez to make it five consecutive League wins for City, though Kevin De Bruyne went off injured. Brighton & Hove Albion earned their first win of 2019 after beating bottom side Huddersfield Town 1-0 thanks to a goal from Florin Andone. Wolverhampton Wanderers bounced back from their defeat in midweek away to Huddersfield Town by convincingly beating struggling Cardiff City 2-0. Diogo Jota opened the scoring for Wolves after some slick build-up play involving Jota, Raul Jimenez and Morgan Gibbs-White, which Jota finished off after an assist from Jimenez. Then, just a couple of minutes later Jota returned the favour to Jimenez as he assisted the Mexican to score the second goal of the game. Crystal Palace made it back-to-back away wins after beating Burnley 3-1 thanks to a Phil Bardsley own goal, as well as goals from Michy Batshuayi and Wilfried Zaha, with Ashley Barnes scoring a consolation for Burnley in the 90th minute.

In Saturday's evening kick-off, West Ham United resoundingly beat Newcastle United 2-0 to make it back-to-back home wins after goals from Declan Rice and a penalty from Mark Noble.

In Sunday's early kick-off, Watford ensured that it was a losing start for Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers, who returned to the Premier League after a 3-and-a-half year absence. Troy Deeney gave the Hornets the lead after heading in a free-kick by Gerard Deulofeu. Jamie Vardy equalised for Leicester City thanks to a brilliant pass by Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans, although arguably there was a foul in the build-up to the goal which should have gone Watford's way, though in the 90th minute substitute Andre Gray won the game for Watford to ensure the Rodgers era did indeed start off with a defeat.

In the first of two derbies on Sunday, Chelsea edged out struggling Fulham, for whom it was caretaker manager Scott Parker's first game in charge, thanks to goals from Gonzalo Higuain and Jorginho. Higuain gave Chelsea the lead in the 20th minute, but that lead lasted a mere 7 minutes as Calum Chambers equalised for Fulham, though Jorginho restored Chelsea's lead four minutes later. However, Chelsea were made to work very hard for this victory, and Fulham actually had a goal disallowed in stoppage time for offside.

In the final match on Sunday, Everton and Liverpool played out a rather poor goalless draw, as Liverpool lacked cutting edge to break down a resolute Everton side, a result which enabled Manchester City to leapfrog Liverpool at the Premier League summit.

Results:

Saturday

Tottenham Hotspur 1 Arsenal 1

AFC Bournemouth 0 Manchester City 1

Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Huddersfield Town 0

Burnley 1 Crystal Palace 3

Manchester United 3 Southampton 2

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Cardiff City 0

West Ham United 2 Newcastle United 0

Sunday

Watford 2 Leicester City 1

Fulham 1 Chelsea 2

Everton 0 Liverpool 0