Wins for Manchester duo, West Ham and Leicester in Premier League

The Manchester City winning machine ploughed on relentlessly with a 1-0 Premier League defeat of Arsenal courtesy of Raheem Sterling’s goal after 75 seconds on Sunday.

Sterling’s close-range header from Riyad Mahrez’s cross caught Arsenal cold and was enough for City to claim an 18th successive win in all competitions and preserve their 10-point lead.

The visitors dominated possession and created numerous chances but were unable to kill off Arsenal, although City keeper Ederson was rarely called into action.

Pep Guardiola’s side’s 13th successive league victory lifted them to 59 points from 25 games with Leicester City in second place on 49 points after they won 2-1 at Aston Villa.

Arsenal’s third defeat in four games left them in 10th spot.

Rashford inspires Man United to 3-1 win over Newcastle
An impressive individual performance from Marcus Rashford steered Manchester United to a 3-1 home win over Newcastle United in the Premier League on Sunday as the England forward scored one goal and had a hand in another.

United moved back into second spot on 49 points from 25 games, 10 behind leaders Manchester City and ahead of third-placed Leicester City on goal difference. Newcastle stayed 17th on 25 points, three ahead of Fulham who occupy the last relegation spot, after an eighth league defeat in 10 games.

Rashford fired United ahead out of the blue in the 30th minute when he twice beat defender Emil Krafth with neat footwork before firing a crisp low shot past goalkeeper Karl Darlow inside the near post.

The visitors, who had looked more likely to break the deadlock, hit back six minutes later when Allan Saint-Maximin took advantage of a poor clearance by Harry Maguire and swept the ball into the roof of the net.

United still looked unconvincing in the early stages of the second half but struck from out of nowhere in the 57th minute as a Nemanja Matic pass was touched on by Bruno Fernandes to Daniel James who rifled the ball past Darlow from eight metres.

Fernandes sealed United’s win with a 74th-minute penalty awarded when Joe Willock tripped Rashford after he bedazzled the Newcastle player with sublime close control in the area.

West Ham go fourth with win over Tottenham
West Ham United claimed fourth spot in the Premier League as goals early in each half by Michail Antonio and Jesse Lingard earned them a 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Their seventh win in their last nine league games moved West Ham two points above Chelsea in their mounting challenge for a Champions League spot while Tottenham have slumped to ninth.

Antonio gave West Ham the perfect start when he fired past Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris in the fifth minute.

When Lingard doubled West Ham’s lead in the 47th minute with a goal initially disallowed for offside but awarded after a VAR check it looked like a comfortable win for David Moyes’ side.

But Lucas Moura’s header gave Tottenham a lifeline and they pressed hard for an equaliser with substitute Gareth Bale lashing a shot against the crossbar.

West Ham had another lucky escape in stoppage time as a Vladimir Coufal clearance deflected back off Son Heung-min and struck the post.

Tottenham had 19 goal attempts to the four of West Ham but were unable to prevent a fifth defeat in six league games.

Rodgers hails attacking duo as Leicester down Villa
Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers was full of praise for the attacking duo of James Maddison and Harvey Barnes as they both got on the scoresheet in a 2-1 Premier League win over Aston Villa on Sunday.

Winger Barnes set up Maddison to score before netting the second goal himself midway through the first half and though Villa pulled a goal back Leicester never really looked like conceding another, which pleased their manager.

“I was absolutely delighted. I thought some of our football and the speed of our game was really, really good. We didn’t have too many concerns defensively,” Rodgers told Sky Sports.

“They (Maddison and Barnes) are getting better all the time. Maddison occupied the spaces really well. He’s so creative. Harvey I thought was incredible. His finish looked easy but it wasn’t. Both those boys are improving constantly,” he added.

Villa boss Dean Smith was left to rue the absence of midfielder Jack Grealish, who has provided much of the creative spark for his team this season but who missed out on Sunday’s game due to a leg injury.

“Jack Grealish has had discomfort in training, we’ll assess it as we go. It’s not a recurrence of an old injury and it’s not long-term. I hope he’ll be back for Leeds next week,” Smith told the BBC before providing an honest assessment of his team’s efforts.

“The slow start certainly cost us the game — we weren’t good enough. We started very slowly, played everything in front of them and let them play in our half,” he said.

“It became a game of two halves but if you give a team like Leicester a two-goal head start it’s tough to come back.”