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#3 Inspirational Saints hold Manchester City to a surprise draw
The Premier League title race is being considered virtually over by most fans even though it's just January and Manchester City are to blame for it. The Etihad side are just relentless and like a well-oiled machine, keep churning performance after performance.
However, on Sunday, Pep Guardiola and co. endured a tough day at the office. Their 12-match winning streak came to a halt thanks to an inspired performance from Southampton at St. Mary's Stadium. The home side caught the Premier League leaders by surprise when Kyle Walker-Peters scored his first league goal from an outside of the boot finish.
It was one-way traffic for the majority of the game afterwards as Man City controlled the proceedings and had 74.2% possession to show for it. Armando Broja had the ball in the back of the net on 23 minutes but was correctly flagged offside. The Chelsea prospect has put on encouraging displays and this is sure to raise his stock in the market.
Manchester City then bombarded Southampton with chance after chance but they lacked that cutting edge in the final-third. Happens with the best of the best, it seems. They got their deserved equalizer in the 65th minute, through Aymeric Laporte's header.
Despite a late onslaught, the Saints kept their low block well and managed to earn a respectable draw. City are still in pole-position to win the Premier League and by a healthy margin of 9 points. Keep the hopeless romantics aside, this may just be January but we all know the 'title race' sounds fun, but there isn't one.
#4 No Salah? No Mane? No problem, for Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool!
The hope is glim, very bleak at this point, but when one is looking to catch onto hope, they'll take whatever little bit of it is available. That is the case with Reds fans who are now hopeful that they have rekindled the flares of a Premier League title race. A title that has virtually slipped away like sand from hand.
On Sunday, Liverpool registered their second Premier League win without Mo Salah and Sadio Mane and scored three goals for the second straight time. Jurgen Klopp's men rode their luck and Alisson Becker rushed to their rescue on numerous occasions.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has scored in consecutive Premier League appearances and Fabinho scored his fourth goal in January. It has to be said that the Reds have taken their game a notch higher as the stakes have risen and must be credited for doing so without their best players.
Salah and Mane will face off against each other in the Africa Cup of Nations play-offs which means one of them will knock out the other. On the positive side, Liverpool will be getting some of that firepower back soon. The Reds have one game in hand and if they are victorious in it, they will be within six points of City.
All of a sudden a Premier League title race does not sound that bizarre after all.
#5 Relegation Zone comes alive as Newcastle United and Norwich City register surprise Premier League victories
It could be a little too early to get excited for the Canaries, but after spending more than half of the season in the relegation zone, they are finally out of it. Norwich City put three past Watford in an enticing bottom-of-the-table battle to push Claudio Ranieri closer to the sack.
Josh Sargent scored his first Premier League goal and followed it up with a second to secure three points for his side. Watford's player of the season so far, Emmanuel Dennis, was sent off after successive yellow cards and and an own goal piled more misery on them.
The Hornets have two games in hand compared to the Canaries and winning them will see them condemn Norwich back to the relegation zone. But Ranieri may not be the manager to make the difference in those two games.
From one manager in danger we move to the other manager, supposedly hired to reduce the threat and danger. Eddie Howe helped Newcastle United get their second Premier League victory of the season at Elland Road. Leeds United had more than 60 per cent of possession but this was an affair that was scrappy and short-on-quality.
A moment of brilliance from midfielder Jonjo Shelvey in the 75th minute turned the tie of the game in the Magpies' favor. He bent his free-kick with absolute precision to beat the wall and Illan Meslier in goal. It is on the back of these victories that Newcastle could attract some good players in January and help themselves stay in the Premier League.
