LONDON (Sporting Alert) — Chelsea had its lead at the top of the English Premier League standings cut in half by Manchester City, while Manchester United moved to third with their win on Monday.
UPDATED ON MONDAY DECEMBER 8
Two goals from Robin van Persie earned Manchester United a 2-1 win at Southampton on Monday night and lifted the Red Devils into third place in the standings.
The win was Manchester United’s fifth in row in the Premier League, while Southampton dropped its third successive game.
Defeat also saw the Saints falling to fifth place in the EPL standings.
WEEKEND REPORTS
The Blues’ undefeated season came to an end on Saturday after they were beaten 2-1 to Newcastle United.
Defeat means that Chelsea stayed on 36 points in the EPL points standings, while Manchester City moved within three points of the leaders after the defending champions edged Everton 1-0.
West Ham United moved to third place for the first-time in 15 years, following a 3-1 victory over 10-man Swansea City on Sunday.
The Hammers are now on 27 points, one more than Southampton, but a point behind Manchester United.
Striker Papiss Cisse netted both the goals for Newcastle United in their win, while Didier Drogba came off the bench to score the lone goal for Chelsea.
“My team lost the way I like to lose which is to give everything and being unlucky. Only one team played to win,” Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho told BBC Sport.
Winning manager Alan Pardew was delighted with how his players went about doing their business in the victory.
“That was about character and discipline against probably best team in Europe at the moment,” Pardew told BT Sport. “At the start I thought we stood off Chelsea a bit, but we stuck at it.
“I’ve never had six minutes of stoppage time at home before. We’ve heard of Fergie time but that was about Mourniho time! It’s a special day for us.
“At the end we had players flying in blocking shots and that summed us up. We are in it together and pulling one way. Our tactical plan to stop Chelsea worked quite well. We’re delighted to have given a little gee up to the Premier League. I’m sure Jose won’t agree.”
Meanwhile, defending champions Manchester City took full advantage of Chelsea’s slip-up at the top and made the title race a very interesting one heading into the busy December fixtures.
However, Arsenal failed to build on their win over Southampton in midweek after they suffered a 3-2 defeat at Stoke City to stay sixth on 23 points.
The Gunners found themselves down 3-0 at halftime, following a series of poor defending and although the visitors scored two goals in the second half, they were unable to break down a very determined Stoke side, which could have scored more goals.
In the meantime, top 10 in the English Premier League standings is completed by Newcastle United (7th), Swansea (8th), Liverpool (9th) and Tottenham (10th).
In the battle for survival, QPR climbed out of the relegation zone with a much needed 2-0 victory at home to Burnley, despite going down to 10 players in the second half.
Results in the English Premier League
Monday, December 8
Southampton 1 Manchester United 2
Sunday, December 7
Aston Villa 2 Leicester City 1
West Ham United 3 Swansea City 1
Saturday, December 6
Newcastle United 2 Chelsea 1
Manchester City 1 Everton 0
Stoke City 3 Arsenal 2
Queens Park Rangers 2 Burnley 0
Tottenham Hotspur 0 Crystal Palace 0
Hull City 0 West Bromwich Albion 0
Liverpool 0 Sunderland 0
Standings P W D L F A Pts
1 Chelsea 15 11 3 1 34 13 36
2 Manchester City 15 10 3 2 32 14 33
3 Manchester United 14 7 4 3 24 16 28
4 West Ham United 15 8 3 4 26 18 27
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5 Southampton 14 8 2 4 24 10 26
6 Arsenal 15 6 5 4 24 18 23
7 Newcastle United 15 6 5 4 17 18 23
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8 Swansea City 15 6 4 5 20 17 22
9 Liverpool 15 6 3 6 19 19 21
10 Tottenham Hotspur 15 6 3 6 18 21 21
11 Aston Villa 15 5 4 6 10 19 19
12 Everton 15 4 6 5 24 23 18
13 Stoke City 15 5 3 7 17 20 18
14 Sunderland 15 2 9 4 13 23 15
15 Crystal Palace 15 3 5 7 18 23 14
16 West Bromwich Albion 15 3 5 7 14 20 14
17 Queens Park Rangers 15 4 2 9 16 27 14
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18 Hull City 15 2 7 6 15 21 13
19 Burnley 15 2 6 7 10 24 12
20 Leicester City 15 2 4 9 15 26 10
