Chelsea end City's unbeaten run as Liverpool go top

Source: Xinhua| 2018-12-09 20:42:34|Editor: Lu Hui
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LONDON, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Manchester City lost their unbeaten record in the Premier League this season when they fell to a 2-0 defeat against Chelsea in a fascinating game at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening.

N'Golo Kante and David Luiz gave the Blues a win which just about keeps them in the title race, but the game was almost as much about Chelsea's organization in midfield and defense which stopped Manchester City playing their usual fluid attacking game.

A third game in a week perhaps tested City's squad depth and they were crying out for a moment of magic that the injured Kevin de Bruyne and Sergio Aguero might have supplied.

City coach Pep Guardiola said after the game that the title race is now wide open, but his side still showed enough to imply they are still the team to beat this season, even if the gap over Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal has closed.

City's loss means Liverpool are the new league leaders, as they stepped up a gear to claim a 4-0 win away to Bournemouth, which means they are the only remaining unbeaten side in the league.

Mohamed Salah was back to his devastating best with a hat-trick, but then showed the spirit evident in Jurgen Klopp's squad when he handed his man of the match award to team captain James Milner, who had filled in at right-back in what was his 500th Premier League appearance.

Tottenham sit third in the table, six points behind Manchester City, thanks to a 2-0 win away to Leicester City.

Son Heung-Min continued his rich vein of form with a superb goal to open the scoring on the brink of half-time, before Dele Alli netted his 50th goal for Spurs in the second half to seal the win.

Some Arsenal players made headlines for the wrong reasons during the week when they were caught inhaling laughing gas in a nightclub, but they probably didn't have a smile on their faces for much of their 1-0 win at home to Huddersfield Town.

It wasn't until the 83rd minute that Lucas Torreira's close range overhead kick gave them all three points in a scrappy game, which was a perhaps unsurprising consequence of their midweek trip to Old Trafford.

There were some rare smiles in the red half of Manchester, as United beat bottom side Fulham 4-1 with goals from Ashley Young, Juan Mata and Romelu Lukaku putting Jose Mourinho's men 3-0 up by the break.

Marcus Rashford added a fourth in the second half as United ended a five-game winless run in emphatic style.

Callum Paterson scored the only goal of the game to give Cardiff a 1-0 win at home to Southampton and ruin Ralph Hassenhutl's debut as Southampton coach, while James Tarkowski's header ended Burnley's eight-game winless run and pulled them out of the bottom three with a 1-0 win at home to Brighton and Hove Albion.

Finally, West Ham United turned things around in the second half to beat Crystal Palace 3-2.

Robert Snodgrass' first league goal for the Hammers cancelled out James McArthur's opener for Palace, before Javier Hernandez and Felipe Anderson assured West Ham of all three points.

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