Saturdays Review

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Foxes top, more Chelsea woe (December 5th 2015)

A review of Saturday's action in the Barclays Premier League, as Leicester cash in on Manchester City's defeat.


Jamie Vardy missed two good chances to extend his goalscoring streak to 12 straight games but a Riyad Mahrez hat-trick sent Leicester back to the top of the Barclays Premier League.

Vardy fired an early effort straight at Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, then blazed a late effort over the bar as it was left to the Algerian to seal a 3-0 win at the Liberty Stadium.

Barclays Prem

Man Utd 0 - 0 West Ham
Arsenal 3 - 1 S'land
Stoke 2 - 0 Man City
So'ton 1 - 1 A Villa
Swansea 0 - 3 Leicester
Chelsea 0 - 1 B'mouth
W Brom 1 - 1 Tottenham
Watford 2 - 0 Norwich

Barclays Prem Results

And it proved enough for the Foxes to return to the top of the table after Manchester City were beaten 2-0 by Stoke in the lunchtime kick-off at the Britannia Stadium.

Barclays Prem

1 Leicester 32
2 Arsenal 30
3 Man City 29
4 Man Utd 29
5 Tottenham 26
6 West Ham 23
7 Liverpool 23
8 C Palace 22
9 Watford 22
10 Stoke 22
11 Everton 21
12 So'ton 21
13 W Brom 19
14 Chelsea 15 ..
15 Swansea 14
16 Norwich 13
17 B'mouth 13
18 S'land 12
19 Newcastle 10
20 A Villa 6

last updated 05/12 19:28

Mahrez took just five minutes to put his side in front when he converted a Marc Albrighton free-kick then he increased their lead after 22 minutes from a cross by N'Golo Kante.

Ki Sung-yueng struck the bar at the start of the second half for the home side but Mahrez sealed a win which will heap more pressure on Swans boss Garry Monk when he slotted home from Vardy's neat pass in the 67th minute.

Earlier, Manuel Pellegrini's men served up an abject performance as two first-half goals from Marko Arnautovic and a brilliant individual performance by Xherdan Shaqiri gave Mark Hughes' side the points.

Shaqiri shimmied past Fernando and Aleksandar Kolarov before crossing for Arnautovic to side-foot a seventh minute opener, then the same pair combined for the Austrian to grab his second with just 22 minutes on the clock.

Chelsea were plunged into crisis once more as Bournemouth claimed the biggest scalp of their campaign with a 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge.

Jose Mourinho thought the reigning champions had turned a corner, but Eddie Howe's visitors inflicted an eighth defeat of the season, the fourth at home.

Glenn Murray headed in moments after coming off the substitutes' bench and, while there may have been a hint of offside, the Cherries deserved their win in front of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who could yet wield the managerial axe.

Bournemouth won the Championship last season and Chelsea the Premier League, with the victory showing not just how far the Cherries had come, but how far the Blues have fallen.


Olivier Giroud scored at both ends as Arsenal ended Sunderland's recent revival under Sam Allardyce with a hard-fought 3-1 win at the Emirates Stadium.

Joel Campbell fired the Gunners' 33rd-minute opener through Costel Pantilimon's legs but the Black Cats got the equaliser they deserved just before the break when Giroud inadvertently deflected a Yann M'Vila into his own net.

Petr Cech produced a brilliant save to prevent Steven Fletcher putting the visitors back in front before Giroud headed home at the right end in the 63rd minute and Aaron Ramsey sealed the win in stoppage time.

There was more frustration for Manchester United at Old Trafford as Louis Van Gaal's men were held to a goalless draw by West Ham.

Winston Reid and Mauro Zarate missed good early chances for the Hammers but United piled on more pressure in the second half and Marouane Fellaini was only denied by a brilliant save from Adrian.

Remi Garde was denied his first win as Aston Villa boss as Southampton substitute Oriol Romeu salvaged a 1-1 draw for the hosts at St Mary's.

Villa survived a spell of strong early pressure from the hosts in which Sadio Mane and Graziano Pelle came close and a Jose Fonte effort was cleared off the line.

Joleon Lescott put the visitors in front against the run of play on the stroke of half-time but Romeu equalised when he converted a corner from James Ward-Prowse just before the hour mark.

Tottenham were held to a 1-1 draw by West Brom at The Hawthorns after Dele Alli's 15th-minute opener was cancelled out by a rare header from James McClean five minutes before the interval.

Odion Ighalo capped another superb performance with a stoppage-time goal as Watford beat Norwich 2-0 at Vicarage Road, Troy Deeney having struck home the opener from a 30th-minute penalty.