Chelsea 2 Watford 2
Oscar slipped to send a penalty over the crossbar and blow a vital Chelsea victory against Watford in interim manager Guus Hiddink’s first match in charge.
Diego Costa had already scored both of Chelsea's goals, first giving his team the lead and then equalising after Watford went in front through Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo, when they were awarded a penalty in the 78th minute.
Oscar unexpectedly wasted his effort, and in doing so allowed in-form Watford to secure a 2-2 draw, to remain in seventh place, and to leave Chelsea with much work to do from 15th.
Hiddink was overseeing the first fixture of his second reign as Chelsea’s interim manager, having succeeded the recently-sacked Jose Mourinho. His first, when he replaced Luiz Felipe Scolari, went so well that many of the club’s fans wanted him to stay on a permanent basis, but there is little question the circumstances this time are more difficult.
Inheriting a team just two places off the relegation zone — no matter how misleading that may seem — will have made him aware of that, and though Chelsea possess the talent to finish considerably higher, his players’ confidence remains fragile.
If it had been Hiddink’s plan to boost that, it rarely showed, because his playmakers were again largely reluctant to express themselves. Beyond Costa’s fourth-minute header, from Pedro’s cross, a goalscoring threat was minimal and so they had to settle for a point.
Manchester City 4 Sunderland 1
Three goals in 11 first-half minutes helped Manchester City sweep aside Sunderland 4-1 at the Etihad but captain Vincent Kompany’s return from injury lasted only nine minutes to take the gloss of the victory.
Raheem Sterling, Yaya Toure and Wilfried Bony all struck in the opening 23 minutes before Kevin De Bruyne got in on the act early in the second half when Kompany was still on the bench.
City’s defensive fragility without the skipper was evident once more, though, as Fabio Borini’s effort denied them a clean sheet — the 10th time in the Barclays Premier League they have failed to shut the opposition out when their captain has not been present.
And although Kompany was brought on for his first appearance since November 8th shortly afterwards, that comeback proved to be short-lived as the Belgian was forced off again after appearing to injury himself when he tried to poke the ball away from Borini.
It casts his availability for the clash at high-flying Leicester on Tuesday in doubt and City then travel to Watford, Everton and Norwich in a tricky run of four successive away games.
Swansea 1 West Brom 0
Swansea climbed out of the bottom three as Ki Sung-yueng’s first goal of the season ended their four-month run without a Barclays Premier League home win.
Ki’s ninth-minute strike, bundled home from close range, was enough to see off West Brom 1-0 and close the gap on Tony Pulis’ struggling Albion side to two points.
It was certainly not pretty from a Swansea team still without a permanent manager since the sacking of Garry Monk over two weeks ago, but caretaker boss Alan Curtis has instilled plenty of fight and determination in his charges.
Albion forced them on the defensive for long periods, especially in the second half, but they could not find a way past a resilient Swansea rearguard in which Leon Britton and Ashley Williams were outstanding.
Tottenham 3 Norwich 0
Harry Kane became Tottenham’s highest league scorer in a calendar year as his first-half double fired Spurs to a 3-0 victory over struggling Norwich.
Kane’s two goals, the first from the penalty spot, means he now has 27 league goals in 2015 and has broken Teddy Sheringham’s previous club record of 26.
Substitute Tom Carroll rounded off the victory with a superb second-half strike as Mauricio Pochettino’s side move three points clear of Manchester United in the race for the Champions League. Norwich sit 17th.
It took four seconds for the first ‘one our own chants’ to break out around White Hart Lane as Kane continues to make light of those early one-season wonder predictions, his tally now 11 goals in the league and 13 in all competitions.
Dele Alli was the provider for both and the midfielder played another impressive supporting role before going off to a standing ovation late on.
Norwich, meanwhile, were unable to follow up their surprise win at Old Trafford and they now have 24 hours to prepare for a crunch basement battle at home to Aston Villa on Monday.
Bournemouth 0 Crystal Palace
Bournemouth and Crystal Palace shared the points in a goalless Barclays Premier League draw at the Vitality Stadium.
The Cherries, seeking their fourth successive win for the first time since 1989, were frustrated by the high-flying Eagles.
Palace started the game strongly and the home side took five minutes to get into the match, giving away two corners in the first few minutes. However, Jason Puncheon’s deliveries could not be converted and the hosts began to slow the ball down and gain control.
The visitors nearly went ahead after eight minutes when Puncheon’s third corner from the left found Damien Delaney — but Cherries goalkeeper Artur Boruc got low down to keep the match goalless.
Aston Villa 1 West Ham 1
Jordan Ayew rescued a point for battling Aston Villa as they were held to a 1-1 draw by West Ham.
Remi Garde is still searching for his first win as Villa boss despite coming from behind to close the gap to safety.
Aaron Cresswell ended the Hammers’ goal drought with their first strike in 388 minutes but Ayew’s second-half penalty levelled.
Villa huffed and puffed without real quality and Rudy Gestede wasted two golden chances while Jordan Veretout was denied by Adrian.
A draw means they will have to win half of their remaining 20 games to meet boss Garde’s survival target of 10 victories.
