LONDON (Sporting Alert) – The results and standings from the Barclays English Premier League games that took place in round 12.
Leaders Chelsea continued their impressive run to start the season after Diego Costa and Eden Hazard both scored in the 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion to stay undefeated.
The victory saw Jose Mourinho’s men moving to 30 points from 12 games, while it was the 10th win for the Blues in the EPL this term.
“The first half was brilliant, beautiful.The quality of our football was high, another dimension,” Mourinho said on www.chelseafc.com.
“We were playing so well, so fast and fluid. We made the pitch wide, creating spaces to play. We scored two goals and should have scored more than that, it was fantastic.”
Second place Southampton earned a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa in the Monday night fixture to move to 26 points, while Manchester City beat Swansea City 2-1 to stay in third place.
Manchester United, meanwhile, defeated Arsenal 2-1 in London to go fourth on 19 points and jumped into a Champions League slot for the second time this season, while Arsenal dropped to 8th after the home setback.
It was a game Arsenal dominated from the opening whistle, but the Gunners failed to take their chances and it came back to bite them.
“It was one-way traffic and we lost the game, we have to take it on the chin,” manager Arsene Wenger said. “I know we’ll be criticised for it but you have to respect the energy levels we put in.
“We paid for the slightest mistake and it’s very frustrating to come away with nothing. We had the best chances and we could have finished better.
“At 1-0 we should have been more cautious not to give the second goal away. There was plenty of time to come back and that’s where we made the mistake.”
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal was delighted to secure the three points, even if Arsenal dominated the possession.
“I think it is a fantastic victory at the right moment,” said Van Gaal, who has a number of injury problems. “We have a lot of injuries but despite of that we win a difficult away match.
“Arsenal are a good attacking team. At the end I can laugh but you can imagine if they score one of four or five chances in the first half it (would have been) a different game.”
Also dropping big points in round 12 over the weekend were Liverpool, who were stunned 3-1 by Crystal Palace, who came from a goal down to take the three points and climbed out of the bottom three.
Battling for survival in the relegation zone are Leicester City, Burnley and Queens Park Rangers, who are yet to win more than two games this season.
Barclays English Premier League – Round 12
Monday, November 24
Aston Villa 1 Southampton 1
Sunday, November 23
Crystal Palace 3 Liverpool 1
Hull City 1 Tottenham Hotspur 2
Saturday, November 22
Arsenal 1 Manchester United 2
Chelsea 2 West Bromwich Albion 0
Everton 2 West Ham United 1
Leicester City 0 Sunderland 0
Manchester City 2 Swansea City 1
Newcastle United 1 Queens Park Rangers 0
Stoke City 1 Burnley 2
Standings P W D L F A Pts
1 Chelsea 12 10 2 0 30 11 32
2 Southampton 12 8 2 2 24 6 26
3 Manchester City 12 7 3 2 24 13 24
4 Manchester United 12 5 4 3 19 15 19
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5 Newcastle United 12 5 4 3 14 15 19
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6 West Ham United 12 5 3 4 20 16 18
7 Swansea City 12 5 3 4 16 13 18
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8 Arsenal 12 4 5 3 20 15 17
9 Everton 12 4 5 3 22 19 17
10 Tottenham Hotspur 12 5 2 5 16 17 17
11 Stoke City 12 4 3 5 13 15 15
12 Liverpool 12 4 2 6 15 18 14
13 West Bromwich Albion 12 3 4 5 13 17 13
14 Sunderland 12 2 7 3 12 19 13
15 Crystal Palace 12 3 3 6 17 21 12
16 Aston Villa 12 3 3 6 6 17 12
17 Hull City 12 2 5 5 14 17 11
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18 Leicester City 12 2 4 6 11 18 10
19 Burnley 12 2 4 6 8 20 10
20 Queens Park Rangers 12 2 2 8 11 23 8
