Saturday Premier League wrap: The things you might have missed
The final Premier League round-up of 2017, as Chelsea walk past feeble Stoke City, Mohamed Salah is Liverpool's talisman once again, and Manchester United drop more points.
Manchester 0 - 0 Southampton
Another failure for Manchester United and Jose Mourinho. Truthfully, the Portuguese had David De Gea to thank for making the best save of the game and for preserving a point. United didn't create enough, didn't play at anything like the right intensity and, for a fourth game in succession, failed to beat an obviously inferior opponent. The performance of Wesley Hoedt was a big plus for Southampton, who looked newly resilient and, had Dusan Tadic finished a good chance and Shane Long not been denied by De Gea, Mauricio Pellegrino would have taken all three points back to the south coast.
Goals:None.
Bournemouth 2 - 1 Everton
Josh King has had a hand in 31 Premier League goals for Bournemouth (24 goals, 7 assists), 12 more than any other player.
Bournemouth just about shaded the first-half at Dean Court and deserved their lead when, fifteen minutes before half-time, Ryan Fraser guided in a fine volley from Josh King's weighted cross. A reward for creating the better chances, with Everton looking particularly blunt. However, Bournemouth would quickly make it difficult for themselves, with Steve Cook surrendering possession cheaply in his own half and Everton sweeping forward to equalise via Gueye. Both sides would have chances to win it - Yannick Bolasie hooking over from a good position for Everton, Jordon Ibe striking the bar for Bournemouth - before, courtesy of an enormous deflection, Fraser scored his second in the shadow of full-time. Precious points for Eddie Howe.
Goals:Fraser 32', 89' - Gueye 57'
Chelsea 5 - 0 Stoke
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Five of Pedro's last seven Premier League goals have come from outside the box.
Easy as you like for Chelsea: an unmarked Antonio Rudiger headed home Willian's free-kick after 240 seconds and, five minutes later, Danny Drinkwater added a second from the edge of the box. Not what Mark Hughes would have had in mind and it quickly got worse, with Pedro Rodriguez adding a third inside half-an-hour and effectively ending the game as a contest well before half-time. Three-nil would eventually become four, when Geoff Cameron clipped Willian in the penalty-box and the Brazilian converted from the spot. Davide Zappacosta added a fifth to complete the rout.
Goals:Rudiger 3', Drinkwater 9', Pedro 24', Willian 73' (pen), Zappacosta 88'
Huddersfield 0 - 0 Burnley
A banana skin fixture for Sean Dyche's players who, after events at Old Trafford and the season as a whole, could have been forgiven for allowing their levels to drop here. To their credit, that wasn't the case: Huddersfield were possibly the better of the two, but neither ever looked likely to push this one up the Match Of The Day schedule.
Goals:None.
Liverpool 2 - 1 Leicester
Since August 2014, nobody has scored as many goals in the Premier League against ‘big six’ opposition as Jamie Vardy (22 goals in 41 apps).
At Anfield, Joel Matip provided an unintended defence of Virgil van Dijk's transfer-fee: his mistake leading to an early goal for Jamie Vardy after good work from Vincent Iborra and Riyad Mahrez. Despite a flurry (12) of Liverpool shots and an open game, it was a lead which held until half-time. When the equaliser did arrive, the source was inevitable: Mohamed Salah producing a composed finish for his 16th goal of the season. The Egyptian would complete the turnaround, too, scoring a fabulous second fifteen minutes from time.
Goals:Salah 52', 76' - Vardy 3'
Newcastle 0 - 0 Brighton
Chris Hughton has now won just one of his eight matches against his former side Newcastle United as a manager (D3,L4)
Not a game full of incident and, given that Brighton were away from home and Newcastle will be happy with any points at the moment, that was perhaps how both managers would have wanted it. Five shots on-target in the whole game about summed it up, but a goalless draw ultimately wasn't a bad result for either.
Goals:None.
Watford 1 - 2 Swansea
André Carrillo was Watford's 14th different goalscorer in the Premier League this season; the most of any club in the competition.
Absolutely the start Watford needed after their recent run: Andre Carrillo scoring from close range after Lukasz Fabianski had parried a Richarlison shot. This was not Watford at their best and they failed to build on their early momentum, wasting good chances to put the game away - and, inevitably, it cost them: Jordan Ayew equalising with four minutes left and Luciano Narsingh scoring a second in injury time. Five losses on the bounce now for Marco Silva.
Goals:Carrillo 11' - Ayew 86', Narsingh 90'
Seb Stafford-Bloor is a football writer at Tifo Football and member of the Football Writers' Association. He was formerly a regularly columnist for the FourFourTwo website, covering all aspects of the game, including tactical analysis, reaction pieces, longer-term trends and critiquing the increasingly shady business of football's financial side and authorities' decision-making.