Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Haaland double steers City to victory
Manchester City thrashed West Ham United 4-1 in the Premier League on Saturday to claim their first back-to-back wins since October thanks to two goals from Erling Haaland in one of their best performances in weeks.
The champions are sixth in the table on 34 points, 11 behind leaders Liverpool who have two games in hand. West Ham, who were coming off a 5-0 rout by Liverpool, are 13th with 23 points.
Savinho, who scored his first goal for City in the 2-0 win over Leicester City on Sunday which was their first victory in five league games, set up three goals at Etihad Stadium, including the 10th-minute opener when defender Vladimir Coufal deflected the Brazilian's angled shot into the far corner.
Haaland, whose double was his first in a Premier League game since September, struck in the 42nd minute when Savinho whipped in a long cross and the big Norwegian leapt sideways to head in.
Haaland notched his second shortly after the break when Savinho set him clear with a through ball and the 24-year-old nonchalantly chipped over goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.
Phil Foden increased City's lead in the 58th minute when Kevin De Bruyne pounced on Mohammed Kudus' sloppy pass and sent a square pass to Foden for an easy tap-in.
Niclas Fullkrug grabbed a late consolation for the visitors.
West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui will surely rue several terrific chances for his team in a positive first half, including an early close-range shot from Kudus into the side netting after the Hammers had sliced through City's nervous- looking defence.
Soon after, Kudus sprinted down the right before cutting the ball back to Tomas Soucek who sent his shot wide and Kudus blazed another shot wide.
West Ham had 17 shots to City's 10, but only four on target, while the home side had seven.
It was only the second time this season that City scored four goals in a league game, the other being a 4-1 win over Ipswich Town.
West Ham have conceded three or more goals in eight games this season, tied for worst with rock-bottom Southampton.
Arsenal frustrated in draw at brave Brighton
An early goal from Arsenal teenager Ethan Nwaneri was cancelled out by a penalty from Joao Pedro as Brighton & Hove Albion held the misfiring Gunners to a 1-1 Premier League draw that dented the visitors' title hopes.
Arsenal are second in the table on 40 points after 20 games, five behind leaders Liverpool, who host Manchester United on Sunday as one of their two matches in hand on their closest challengers. Brighton are 10th on 28 points.
Nwaneri scored 16 minutes into his second Premier League start, the 17-year-old breaking down the right and cutting inside before confidently drilling a low shot past Bart Verbruggen.
Nwaneri was booked in first-half stoppage time for taking too long over a corner at the end of a comfortable opening period for his side, but that all changed as Brighton came out flying after the interval.
They equalised in the 61st minute after Pedro was awarded a penalty following a clash of heads with William Saliba as he tried to turn in the box, with referee Anthony Taylor having no hesitation in pointing to the spot.
Pedro stepped up and sent David Raya the wrong way to level and despite needing a win to keep the pressure on Liverpool, Arsenal continued to struggle.
The hosts should have claimed a winner in the 77th minute when Yankuba Mineh flashed the ball across the face of the goal but neither Yasin Ayari nor Kaoru Mitoma could steer it into the net.
The closest Arsenal came to scoring was a stoppage-time effort from former Brighton player Leandro Trossard that flew harmlessly over the crossbar as the hosts hung on for their fourth straight draw.
Arsenal's third draw in six Premier League games handed Liverpool a big advantage in the title race.
Palace hold Chelsea to draw as Mateta strikes late
Crystal Palace equalised late to leave Chelsea winless in four Premier League games - and looking over their shoulder in the race for a Champions League slot - as Jean-Philippe Mateta cancelled out Cole Palmer's first-half opener.
Chelsea had chances to seal victory before Mateta picked up a ball from Eberechi Eze in the 82nd minute and blasted home from close range to ease Palace's relegation worries.
Palmer had given the visitors a deserved lead in the 14th minute when he fired in an angled shot after fine work on the left by winger Jadon Sancho who dummied his marker on the halfway line to sprint free and set up the England forward.
The draw left Chelsea in fourth place, only one point ahead of in-form Newcastle United who sit just outside the Champions League spots in fifth and won 2-1 at Tottenham Hotspur earlier on Saturday.
Crystal Palace are 15th, six points ahead of Ipswich Town who are in the highest of the three relegation positions and travel to Fulham on Sunday.
After a first 45 minutes dominated by Chelsea, the hosts started the second half stronger with Eze going close from a cross by Ismaila Sarr in the 49th minute. Chris Richards forced Robert Sanchez into a reflex save seven minutes later.
Chelsea had their own chances when Enzo Fernandez and Nicolas Jackson both shot narrowly wide in the space of a minute before Mateta's equaliser.
The Blues had been aiming to get back to winning ways after losing to struggling Ipswich Town and west London neighbours Fulham and drawing 0-0 at Everton in their previous three matches, an abrupt loss of form that shattered talk of them mounting a title challenge.
Sancho said Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca had ordered his players to finish off the contest at halftime, something they failed to do with errant finishing.
"It's kind of frustrating to concede late in the game," the winger - who is on loan at Chelsea from Manchester United - told BBC radio. "We have to learn from this and move on. We have to finish our chances."
In-form Newcastle edge out Spurs
Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak continued his rich vein of form with another goal on Saturday to help his side beat injury-hit Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 away in the Premier League and move closer to the top four.
Isak scored eight league goals in December and struck again just before halftime to give Newcastle the lead after they had fallen behind to a Dominic Solanke header in the fourth minute.
Solanke's goal had lifted the mood among disgruntled home fans on a freezing day in north London, but Tottenham's lead was quickly snuffed out when Anthony Gordon fired home an equaliser.
Tottenham were the better side after the break with Brennan Johnson hitting the post and James Maddison going close, but Newcastle hung on through 10 minutes of stoppage time for a fifth successive Premier League win.
Eddie Howe's side moved level on 35 points with fourth-placed Chelsea who play at Crystal Palace later on Saturday while struggling Tottenham stay 11th with 24 points.
"We had to dig deep today. It was a tough win but a massive one, Howe said. "(Isak) was in the right place at the right time. That's an art. He's on a hot streak, long may that continue."
The respective form of the two sides could not have been more different heading into the new year with Newcastle on a four-match winning streak and Tottenham having managed only one win in their previous seven Premier League games.
Injury-ravaged Tottenham also began the game with third-choice keeper Brandon Austin making his debut after illness ruled out Fraser Forster, while captain Son Heung-min and James Maddison started amongst the substitutes.
Manager Ange Postecoglou revealed that injury and sickness had left him with only 11 fit players on Thursday, but despite their problems Tottenham took the lead after four minutes.
Teenage Swede Lucas Bergvall, making only his second Premier League start, drove forward and fed Pedro Porro whose cross was met with a diving header by Solanke that gave visiting keeper Martin Dubvravka no chance.
Tottenham's lead lasted only two minutes though as they were punished for playing out from the back. Bergvall's pass was intercepted by Joelinton's arm and he released Gordon to dispatch a left-foot shot past Austin.
The under-pressure Postecoglou vented his anger that the goal had not been disallowed for handball and the Australian was still seething after the final whistle.
"I'm angry that football wasn't what denied us getting the rewards we deserved today," he told reporters.
Newcastle looked the slicker side going forward in the first half and Isak should have put them ahead when he glanced an effort wide from in front of goal.
But the Swede made amends in the 38th minute as Jacob Murphy crossed low into the area and the ball brushed off Spurs defender Radu Dragusin before Isak applied the finishing touch.
Tottenham were forced into a halftime defensive reshuffle with a sick Dragusin, their only fit centre back, going off and being replaced by full back Sergio Reguilon with Djed Spence moving across alongside youngster Archie Gray, another player who had been ill all week.
The hosts showed plenty of spirit in the second half though and Brennan Johnson struck the post from a tight angle after Dubravka had parried a shot by Pape Matar Sarr.
Postecoglou rolled the dice just past the hour mark with a triple substitution - Son, Maddison and Yves Bissouma all coming on. Maddison curled a delightful effort agonisingly wide and deep into stoppage time Solanke looked poised to equalise but headed an inviting Porro cross straight at Dubravka.
Brentford crush Southampton
Brentford thrashed relegation favourites Southampton 5-0 on Saturday to chalk up a long-overdue first away win of the Premier League season, helped by a Bryan Mbeumo double.
Kevin Schade put the mid-table visitors ahead in the sixth minute at St Mary's, the German forward flicking the ball past goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale after being fed through by Mikkel Damsgaard.
Cameroon international Mbeumo doubled the tally in the 62nd and added the third goal from the penalty spot in the 69th before then providing the assist for Keane Lewis-Potter in the second minute of stoppage time.
Yoane Wissa made it 5-0 in the fourth of five additional minutes with his 10th league goal of the campaign after earlier squandering a hatful of chances.
Brentford could have been comfortably ahead even in the first half-hour, with a Christian Norgaard header bouncing off the crossbar and Ramsdale making a low save to parry a curling Wissa effort.
Last in the league with six points from 20 matches, Southampton have only one win to their credit -- 1-0 at home to Everton more than two months ago -- and are 10 points from safety with the fewest goals in the top flight.
New manager Ivan Juric, appointed last month, has lost all three games in charge so far.
Brentford, now 10th in the table, thought they had scored their second goal in the 53rd when Sepp van den Berg headed in unmarked from an Mbeumo corner but a VAR check ruled that Wissa had fouled Jan Bednarek moments earlier.
Wissa was clear on goal seven minutes later but, one-on-one with Ramsdale, blasted the ball high over the bar.
Mbeumo then found the net after a one-two with Wissa and put the match beyond the struggling Saints from the spot after Van den Berg was downed clumsily by Lesley Ugochukwu at the far post.
Wissa, in the 72nd, and Lewis-Potter two minutes later also missed good chances before both made amends in extra time as Southampton's porous defence gave way.
Bailey seals win for Villa over Leicester
Leon Bailey scored the winner in Aston Villa's 2-1 Premier League victory over Leicester City, after Stephy Mavididi's equaliser had cancelled out Ross Barkley's strike in an action-packed second half on Saturday.
Leicester, who contained Villa's attack effectively in the first half, fell to their fifth loss in a row, while eighth-placed Villa got their first win in three matches to move within three points of the top five.
Villa found the breakthrough in the 58th minute when an attempt to keep out Youri Tielemans' shot from the left reached Barkley, who hammered home from outside the box.
But the visitors struck back five minutes later when Emiliano Martinez's save to deny Jamie Vardy fell to Mavididi who made no mistake from close range.
Bailey secured the three points for the hosts with a neat finish from Ian Maatsen's short pass in the 76th minute.
Villa almost led in the 14th minute when Matty Cash's cross from the right found Ollie Watkins in the box but Conor Coady's swift deflection cleared it for a corner.
Villa lost John McGinn to an injury five minutes later as Leicester sat back in their own half to defend while the frustrated hosts dominated possession but struggled to create chances.
Villa's first shot on target came in added time before the break, as Cash's effort from outside the box was kept out by a diving Jakub Stolarczyk.
Leicester failure to keep a clean sheet for the 13th league game in a row maintained their record of having the league's joint most porous defence, after conceding 44 goals in 20 matches, the same as bottom side Southampton.
Leicester, 19th with 14 points, host Queens Park Rangers in the FA Cup third round on Saturday, while Villa, who have 32 points, meet West Ham United on Friday.
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