After an intriguing final round of group stage fixtures in the Champions League and Europa League, the Premier League was finally back with a great set of fixtures.
Manchester City temporarily returned to the top of the table after beating Everton on Saturday afternoon, but were leapfrogged by Liverpool on Sunday after the Reds sealed a convincing win over rivals Manchester United.
Wins for Tottenham and Chelsea over Burnley and Brighton respectively keep them in touching distance, but Arsenal’s loss to Southampton sees them fall three points behind fourth placed Chelsea.
Manchester United’s loss means they now sit an incredible 11 points away from the top four and must now worry about being caught by an in-form Wolves, who won their third successive match to take them one point behind the Red Devils.
West Ham’s fourth win in a row takes them into ninth place, whilst crucial wins for Newcastle and Crystal Palace give them some breathing space above the relegation zone.
Southampton finally escape the relegation zone but are only separated from Burnley on goal difference.
Who made themselves count when needed most and who disappeared? Here are our winners and losers.
Winners
Gabriel Jesus – Manchester City
Gabriel Jesus
The Brazilian forward had not scored a league goal since August but finally broke his barren run with an impressive brace against Everton.
The striker’s assured finishing will be a massive boost for City, who have a very tough run of fixtures in all competitions over the next month.
Jesus will now be hoping to contend with Sergio Aguero for a starting position and if he can continue getting goals, then Pep Guardiola will have a tough choice to make.
Danny Ings – Southampton
The on-loan forward proved his worth to the Saints with two accurate headers to inspire his side to a famous victory over Arsenal in Ralph Hasenhuttl’s first home match in charge of the side.
His movement throughout the match was clever and Arsenal found it difficult to mark him inside the box.
If Ings can stay in this form, then he certainly has the ability to fire Southampton away from the relegation zone.
Xherdan Shaqiri – Liverpool
Xherdan Shaqiri
Shaqiri would have been disappointed to see himself start the match against Man Utd on the bench, but he did not let that affect him.
The Swiss international was brought on with the score at 1-1 and he immediately inspired Liverpool to a massive victory by scoring two goals.
Both efforts were heavily deflected, but it was clear to see how his introduction lifted the entire team, with United finding it hard to mark the former Stoke City man.
Losers
Denis Odoi – Fulham
The Fulham defender endured a torrid afternoon against West Ham tricky winger Felipe Anderson.
Odoi simply could not contain the skilful and pacey wide-man and the Hammers continuously targeted that side of the Fulham defence.
Odoi will no doubt be having nightmares about Anderson for the next few days as Fulham have still not kept a clean sheet all season.
Yerry Mina – Everton
Despite making a good start to his Everton career, Mina endured a horrific afternoon at the Etihad Stadium against Man City.
The centre-back’s misplaced pass in the first half set City on their way to the opener and after that, the Colombian’s confidence was low.
Any defender in the world would struggle against an in-form City side, but this was Mina’s chance to show that he could handle the pressure and sadly for him, he didn’t take it.
Arsenal
Danny Ings opens the scoring for Southampton
The Gunners’ impressive 22-match unbeaten run finally came to an end at the hands of Southampton at the St Mary’s Stadium.
Unai Emery currently has a huge defensive crisis and that could be seen as the Saints netted three past the north London side.
However, there is no need for Arsenal to panic as Emery will be interested to see how his players react to such a frustrating defeat.
