A summary of Saturday's action in the Premier League.
Substitute Darwin Nunez's stoppage-time double gave Liverpool a 2-0 win at Brentford on Saturday, as the Premier League leaders left it late to record their first league win of 2025.
The Reds looked set to be denied with Brentford repelling wave after wave of attacks, before Nunez scored twice in three minutes to keep the pressure on second-placed Arsenal.
Liverpool remained top with 50 points from 21 games, seven ahead of Arsenal who host Aston Villa later on Saturday. Brentford are 11th with 28 points from 22 games.
"Every win is a big result, especially when the teams around us are very strong," Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told BBC Sport.
"If nobody is ready for a bumpy ride then this season will definitely be one."
Brentford started sharply and should have taken the lead in the fifth minute, but Mikkel Damsgaard squandered a golden chance with the goal gaping.
Liverpool's Luis Diaz ought to have scored in the 15th minute when Ibrahima Konate found him in space in the box, but the Colombian winger got his attempted header all wrong.
Ryan Gravenberch then tested Brentford keeper Mark Flekken with an effort from outside the box which the goalkeeper tipped behind before van Dijk headed wide from the corner.
Dominik Szoboszlai skimmed the bar with a shot from outside the box as the visitors cranked up the pressure and Cody Gakpo wasted a good chance from a quick counter.
Arne Slot's substitutions had an immediate impact in the 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday and the Dutch manager nearly had the magic touch again, when Andy Robertson's cross found Nunez but the striker headed wide.
Alexis Mac Allister headed a Robertson corner into the side netting before Brentford nearly nicked a goal on the break, with Alisson making saves from Mbuemo, Kevin Schade and Yoane Wissa to keep the game level.
Brentford held firm and seemed on course for a deserved point until Nunez – whose introduction had drawn derision from the home fans – took charge of the contest in added time.
Nunez tapped in Trent Alexander-Arnold's cross from close range in the 91st minute, before he added a second with an emphatic finish two minutes later as Liverpool's 36th and 37th shots of the game finally found the net.
Kluivert 'tricks' as Bournemouth rout Newcastle
Bournemouth midfielder Justin Kluivert struck a superb hat-trick in a 4-1 away win over his father Patrick's former club Newcastle United in Saturday's early Premier League kick-off, ending the hosts' six-match winning run in the league.
Ahead of the rest of the weekend's fixtures, the victory leaves Bournemouth sixth in the league on 37 points, behind fifth-placed Chelsea on goal difference, while Newcastle stay fourth on 38 points.
Bournemouth sounded a warning as early as the fourth minute when Martin Dubravka was forced into a save by Dango Outtara, but there was little the goalkeeper could do to prevent Kluivert giving them the lead two minutes later.
The man-to-man press of the visitors caused Newcastle no end of problems and when Bournemouth won the ball high up the pitch, Antoine Semenyo was able to feed Kluivert, who swept the ball past Dubravka for the opener.
Roared on by the home crowd, Newcastle captain Bruno Guimares levelled in the 25th minute, cleverly creating space for himself around the penalty spot before heading home Lewis Hall’s corner.
Undeterred, Kluivert put his side back in front before the break and they continued to attack in the second half while keeping Newcastle striker Alexander Isak, who had scored in his last eight Premier League outings, quiet.
Outtara thought he had made it 3-1 for Bournemouth with a finish from close range in the 61st minute but the ball was ruled to have gone out of play in the build-up and his side had to be content with a corner instead.
Newcastle threatened occasionally from distance but the visiting defence remained solid, and Kluivert, whose father managed one league goal at St. James' Park in a season-long stay with the Magpies in 2004/05, curled in a superb third in second-half stoppage time to complete his hat-trick.
Defender Milos Kerkez then completed the rout with a late rocket as Andoni Iraola's side cantered to victory to make it 10 league games unbeaten for the Cherries.
Mateta brace gives Crystal Palace win at West Ham
Jean-Philippe Mateta scored twice in the second half as Crystal Palace completed a 2-0 Premier League away win at a toothless West Ham United, more evidence for new manager Graham Potter of the difficult job he faces in east London.
Palace broke from their own box and within three touches Eberechi Eze’s pass to the feet of Mateta set the striker clear and he drilled the ball low into the goal, before adding a late second from the penalty spot.
West Ham’s poor afternoon was compounded by a second yellow card for Konstantinos Mavropanos 10 minutes from time following his high boot into the face of Mateta, giving referee Thomas Bramall an easy decision to make.
Palace climbed to 12th place in the table with 27 points from 22 games, above West Ham, who are in 14th with 26.
West Ham did not have a shot on target in the 90 minutes and looked devoid of ideas as the visitors comfortably held them at bay in a clinical display.
Palace have lost once in their last 11 Premier League games and are now unbeaten away from home in seven.
They also broke their barren run in London derbies, having failed to win any of the previous 13, since beating West Ham in November 2022.
Palace hit the front inside three minutes of the second half as Mateta finished off a sweeping move with a fine finish.
It took West Ham until the 70th minute to create anything of note in the final third, but Danny Ings’ shot was blocked and that was as good as it got for them.
When Mavropanos was sent off their task was made ever harder and West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski's foul on an onrushing Eddie Nketiah led to a penalty a minute from the end.
Fabianski nearly saved Mateta’s low effort, but the ball squirmed under his body and into the net.
Fulham condemn Leicester to seventh straight defeat
Second-half strikes from Emile Smith Rowe and Adama Traore earned Fulham a 2-0 win at Leicester City and condemned the hosts to a seventh straight Premier League loss.
Leicester, winless in the league for over six weeks, remained 19th in the table, while Fulham provisionally climbed to ninth.
Fulham, who survived a shaky early moment when Timothy Castagne almost played Jamie Vardy's cross into his own net, broke through in the 48th minute when Harry Wilson's clipped cross found Sasa Lukic who headed it down for Smith Rowe to find the net with a low diving header.
An unmarked Traore doubled the visitors' lead 20 minutes later when the Spaniard found the net from Wilson's cross, as chants of "Leicester City's going down" rang round the stadium.
Leicester had started positively, with Victor Kristiansen almost putting them ahead before the half-hour mark but the Danish defender's curling effort missed the far post by a whisker.
Fulham soon took control with Alex Iwobi charging in from the left and floating the ball towards the near post and off the crossbar.
Two minutes later, Smith Rowe's pass found Iwobi inside the box, but Wout Faes made a sliding block to deny the Nigerian.
After Fulham went ahead Leicester pushed hard for an equaliser, with keeper Bernd Leno's timely dive keeping out Stephy Mavididi's left-footed attempt from a tight angle in the 55th minute.
Jordan Ayew fired over the bar as the home fans roared him on, but the atmosphere in the arena was deflated when Traore struck.
Leicester visit Tottenham Hotspur on Jan. 26, the same day Fulham host Manchester United.
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