Premier League round-up: Manchester City put six past Leicester as Arsenal hit Norwich for five on Boxing Day
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ByEurosport
Updated 26/12/2021 at 17:40 GMT
The Boxing Day fixture list saw three games postponed with Liverpool-Leeds, Wolves-Watford and Everton-Burnley all falling foul of Covid-19. However, there were a glut of goals as Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham enjoyed impressive wins against Leicester City, Norwich City and Crystal Palace respectively.
Manchester City's German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan (2L) celebrates scoring his team's third goal during the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Leicester City at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west England, on Decemb
Image credit: Getty Images
Manchester City and Leicester served up a nine-goal thriller as Raheem Sterling shone in a 6-3 win.
The champions scored four in the first half to make sure a reduced Boxing Day buffet of games shed its lowered expectations.
Kevin De Bruyne scored after just five minutes, before Riyad Mahrez added another from the spot. Ilkay Gundogan made it three on 21 minutes, and Raheem Sterling scored the home side’s fourth with a 25th-minute penalty.
But Leicester struck early in the second half, courtesy of the searing speed of Kelechi Iheanacho, creating three goals on the break to make the champions uncomfortable.
James Maddison scored on 55 minutes, Ademola Lookman just before the hour mark, and Iheanacho himself gave Guardiola a fright with a third, as Brendan Rodgers' third-season struggles continued.
But Pep’s team weren’t going to indulge Leicester any further as they tightened up at the back and unleashed Raheem Sterling.
The England international is making it ever harder for his manager to leave him out as he stamped his return to form with a goal at the death.
Tottenham took advantage of Patrick Vieira’s absence with a 3-0 win against Crystal Palace as Antonio Conte’s firecracker revolution sparked to life.
Conte saw his side go ahead in the 32nd minute as Harry Kane netted, with Brazilian striker Lucas Moura following up two minutes later.
Wilfried Zaha saw red three minutes after that to leave Palace struggling to find the answers to Tottenham’s direct approach, with manager Vieira isolating with Covid-19
Son Heung-Min made it three in the second half to put the game far beyond Crystal Palace
The other Christmas-cracker was at the London Stadium as David Moyes’s West Ham suffered a blow in their chase for a Champions League spot when they lost 3-2 at home against Southampton.
Mohamed Elyounoussi scored the only goal of the first half after just eight minutes with a finish from the edge of the area.
There were boos at the half time whistle before manager David Moyes looked to make changes to a lacklustre West Ham. He brought on Michail Antonio who put a header past Forster shortly after the restart.
James Ward-Prowse then grabbed another from the spot before Said Benrahma levelled shortly after, before Jan Bednarek leapt to meet a fantastic Ward-Prowse free-kick to secure the win on 73 minutes for the Saints.
Arsenal continued their return to form under Mikel Arteta when young England international Bukayo Saka scored either side of Kieran Tierney’s effort against a creaky Norwich City.
Alexandre Lacazette, shouldering the responsibility of the dropped Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, took his chance to lead and marked a good performance with a goal.
A desolate-looking Norwich conceded once again just before the final whistle from Emile Smith Rowe to cap a miserable Boxing Day at Carrow Road.
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