With Manchester United playing away at Crystal Palace on Monday night, Liverpool took the chance to move into second place by beating Newcastle 2-0 at Anfield. Mohamed Salah scored his 32nd goal of a stunning debut season, with Sadio Mane adding the second to end Rafa Benitez’s unbeaten run against his former side. Salah has now scored as many goals as Newcastle have this season. Elsewhere, Harry Kane failed to add to his tally in the Golden Boot race, but Tottenham beat Huddersfield 2-0 all the same, with a brace from Son Heung-min proving enough to beat the Terriers.
Arsenal’s dismal run continued, as they lost their fourth game in a row. Brighton took a big step towards safety with this win, as Lewis Dunk and Glenn Murray capitalised on Petr Cech errors to give the Seagulls an unlikely two-goal lead before half-time. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang pulled one back before half-time, but Arsenal were unable to rescue the game, and it increasingly looks like this will be Arsene Wenger’s final season in charge. Another club poised to make a managerial change in the summer are Chelsea, with the Blues barely putting up a fight in losing 1-0 to Manchester City at the Etihad. Bernardo Silva’s awkward finish just after half-time proved enough against a Chelsea side lacking any ambition, and City are now just four wins away from the title; they could seal it by beating United in the derby.
Swansea returned to winning ways, thrashing a hapless West Ham side 4-1 to move three points clear of the relegation zone. Any early Ki Sung-Yeung goal set the Swans on their way, and further strikes from Mike van der Hoorn, Andy King, on his first start for the club, and Jordan Ayew from the penalty spot, piled on the misery for West Ham, who could only manage a late consolation goal through Michail Antonio. The result moved Swansea level on points with West Ham and Huddersfield, while Brighton’s aforementioned upset took them seven points clear of the drop zone with nine games to play. Meanwhile, Leicester and Bournemouth look to have secured their survival this season, and this game ended in a 1-1 draw after Riyad Mahrez’s brilliant late equalizer salvaged a point for the Foxes, who had trailed to a Josh King penalty since the 35th minute.
Stoke and Southampton played out a goalless draw at St. Mary’s, in a result which barely keeps Southampton’s head above water in 17th place, a point ahead of Crystal Palace and Stoke. West Brom, though, look dead and buried, as they lost 1-0 to Watford to remain seven points adrift. Troy Deeney’s goal consigned the Baggies to yet another loss, and Alan Pardew is in a job only because of a lack of alternatives, having overseen no improvement since taking over from Tony Pulis. Burnley finally won a game after a dismal run of form, beating Everton 2-1 at Turf Moor. Cenk Tosun gave the Toffees the lead; however, Burnley came back through goals from Ashley Barnes and record signing Chris Wood. Everton also had Ashley Williams sent off, as the away fans turned on Sam Allardyce.
United play on Monday night, and it is imperative that they win ahead of the game against Liverpool, in order to cement second place this season.