Manchester City made sure they ended the day on top of the Premier League with a comfortable 2-0 win over Burnley.
Responding to Liverpool’s lunchtime win over Watford, first-half goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan restored City’s one-point advantage ahead of a huge week, which includes the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Atletico Madrid and next week’s visit of the Reds.
City had gone 13 points clear after beating Chelsea in January – a figure inflated by the games in hand held by Liverpool – but kicked off at Turf Moor in second place after Jurgen Klopp’s side dispatched Burnley’s relegation rivals Watford for a 10th consecutive league win.
Diogo Jota’s 20th goal of the season in the first half was followed by a late Fabinho penalty to send a message the short distance up the road to Turf Moor, but City responded in kind.
Vitaly Janelt’s quickfire double saw Brentford secure a 4-1 romp over a Chelsea side beset by unrelenting takeover talk.
Christian Eriksen also netted in a win that puts Thomas Frank’s side on the verge of cementing their top-flight status.
Toni Rudiger hammered home a long-range strike, but Brentford punished Chelsea’s out-of-character defensive disarray three times in six minutes, to seal a memorable win.
And by the time Yoane Wissa drilled home a fourth, the travelling fans were in full dreamland.
Manchester United suffered another blow in their bid for a Champions League slot as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Leicester at Old Trafford.
With Cristiano Ronaldo ruled out due to illness, Ralf Rangnick’s men fell behind to a 63rd-minute opener from Kelechi Iheanacho.
Fred fired home United’s equaliser on the rebound in the 66th minute, but the hosts were fortunate in the 80th minute when James Maddison thought he had won it for the Foxes with a sweeping effort only to have it ruled out by VAR for a foul in the build-up.
Wolves maintained their European charge after a deserved derby win over Aston Villa.
Jonny’s rocket and Ashley Young’s own goal earned the hosts a 2-1 win at Molineux.
Ollie Watkins pulled a goal back with a late penalty but Wolves held their nerve to keep the pressure on in the race for Europe.
James Ward-Prowse produced more free-kick magic to earn Southampton a 1-1 draw at Leeds and halt their four-game losing run.
The England midfielder curled home a trademark dead-ball effort early in the second half after Jack Harrison had given Leeds an interval lead.
Southampton had lost their previous three Premier League games before a thumping home FA Cup defeat to Manchester City and will be happier than Leeds with a point.
A first-half penalty miss by Neal Maupay ensured Brighton and Norwich played out a goalless draw at the Amex Stadium.
The goal-shy hosts dominated throughout against their bottom-of-the-table opponents and yet saw their usual Achilles heel crop up.
Maupay had the chance to break the deadlock in the 29th-minute but blazed over before he squandered another late chance to ensure a second stalemate of the campaign between the teams.
