Premier League, Week 18: Manchester City edge Liverpool; Arsenal go top again

City bunkered as the half wore on, restricting space for Liverpool, and they never got a better chance to score than the one Sterling squandered in the 73rd minute. The visitors created an astonishing number of quality chances at Etihad Stadium, but somehow managed to leave with no points.

Manchester City: Hart, Kolarov, Lescott, Kompany, Zabaleta, Fernandinho, Toure, Nasri (Milner 72’), Silva (Garcia 87’), Navas, Negredo (Dzeko 77’)

The big midday section of Boxing Day games is in the books, and it certainly wasn’t light on entertainment. There were goals and red cards flying around everywhere, and it’s a shame that most people could only watch one or two of these games at once.

This loss has Cardiff just a point off the drop, and it’s looking unlikely that the pressure on Malky Mackay is going to be relieved anytime soon. This one was all but over quickly, with Jay Rodriguez scoring a brace inside of 20 minutes. Rickie Lambert added a third before the half-hour mark and the Saints coasted from there.

From there, Chelsea didn’t have a ton to do. They defended relatively well and Swansea rarely threatened, instead leaving Chelsea to find a way through for a second tally. They struggled to at times and when they did, Eto’o led the charge of poor finishing, but it didn’t matter.

Chelsea had Hazard, and with that, they had three points.

Santiago Cazorla almost scored a most unlikely opener afterwards, heading from all of 19 yards at the Hammers goal from a poorly-cleared corner, but Adrian managed to reposition himself to make the save. Arsenal were beginning to create chances, and Walcott missed a good chance after collecting Ramsey’s pass, before Giroud hit an awful effort wide when presented with a good chance too.

Carlton Cole had yet another opportunity to extend West Ham’s lead when he picked up Matt Jarvis’ superb cross which was misjudged by Szczesny, but the big man could only prod it wide. As was painfully obvious, the hosts would soon regret missing that flurry of chances, as Arsenal steeled themselves and began to look for a way back into the game, although did suffer a setback when Aaron Ramsey went off injured for Lukas Podolski. That seemed to be another disaster for the visitors, although it would go on to have a hugely influential effect on the result.

Christian Eriksen gave Spurs the lead late in the first half with a superb free kick, but his foul less than two minutes later allowed West Brom to equalize as the two sides finished in a 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane.

Lloris was called on again in the 18th minute after Vydra again got behind Dawson and broke free on goal. Lloris was already well off his line and closed quickly, making a strong tackle that denied the West Brom striker before he could get his shot off.

Manchester United have won their fifth match in a row after staging a remarkable comeback against Hull City. Having gone 2-0 down -- against a side who had conceded just three goals at home all year prior to the match -- early on thanks to goals from James Chester and David Meyler, the defending champions roared back to claim a 3-2 victory.

Hull got off to a flying start, grabbing the opener within four minutes. Ahmed Elmohady won a very strange corner by hitting a cross straight out of play while in the general vicinity of Tom Cleverley, and the hosts made the most of their good fortune. Tom Huddlestone’s delivery was perfect, giving Alex Bruce the space to rise over his defenders and nod down to James Chester, who did his part by smashing a volley into the roof of the net.