Premier League schedule, news and results from Week 15

The holidays are closing in, so it’s understandable if you need to ignore soccer this weekend, focusing instead on gift-buying and tree-lighting. On the other hand, weekend crowds are madness, and it’s more likely you need an excuse to avoid the crush. The Premier League offers up a few reasons to simply stay inside.

NBCSN and NBC Sports Live (USA); Sportsnet World (Canada); BT Sport 1 (UK)

Manchester United have established themselves in the top four, while Southampton are on the outside looking in for the first time this season. Louis van Gaal’s side were a mess, but the quality of Robin van Persie and some huge mistakes by the Saints helped his side to a 2-1 victory.

Long had his second huge miss of the game in the 53rd minute, hitting a header right into the stomach of David De Gea while unmarked, and with the entire goal to shoot at. Southampton continued to play well until around the hour mark, when the pitch started to tilt in United’s favor.

After a rocky start to the season, Manchester United are very much in the top four race, and will go to third with a win. Southampton are in a similar spot, one point ahead of United, but they got here by very different means. They were one of the league’s fast starters, but their early schedule was kind to them. Since they started playing the big teams, the Saints have lost two straight, and will be out of the top four if they lose again on Monday.

United, meanwhile, are a bit lucky that their schedule has balanced their tough games with easier ones. They deservedly lost to City last month, but have won four straight since then, including one at Arsenal.

Both of these sides have pretty enviable strike options, though perhaps the most enviable of all is Swansea’s Wilfried Bony, who established himself as one of the Premier League’s best forwards in an outstanding debut season last year. His aerial ability and brilliant finishing means he’ll nearly always punish a defensive mistake, so West Ham’s back line will have to be on their guard.

These players aren’t direct opponents on the pitch -- in fact it’s pretty likely they’ll go the entire game without locking eyes. However, both Stewart Downing and Gylfi Sigurðsson have similar, vitally important roles in carving out chances for their respective teams. Whoever is on better form (or perhaps less well-marked) could well determine who wins this match.

When Ayoze Pérez joined Newcastle United in the summer, he’d never played a single game of top-flight football in his life. The youngster had admittedly come off a brilliant campaign in the Spanish Segunda División with his hometown club Tenerife, but they’d still only finished in mid-table. Despite reported interest from Real Madrid and Barcelona, Ayoze certainly wasn’t expected to immediately establish himself as one of the top attacking talents in the Premier League.

And yet, six months later, here we are.

Manchester City’s oft-injured striker Sergio Agüero left Saturday’s match against Everton after less than five minutes, suffering an injury to his left knee.

Agüero collided with Everton’s Muhamed Bešić as both players went for a loose ball outside the Toffee’s box in the 3rd minute of the match. Agüero went down immediately, staying down for several minutes before slowly limping off the pitch. The Argentine eventually made his way around the outside of the pitch and into the locker room, limping and walking slowly. He was replaced by 18-year-old José Ángel Pozo.

As the English Premier League keeps barreling on towards the chaos of the league’s holiday period and the halfway point of the season, only one team is within ten points of league-leading Chelsea. That’s Manchester City, last season’s champions and winners of four straight matches in all competitions; if they can make it five, they could have a chance to cut Chelsea’s six-point lead atop the table.

Everton will be looking to do what they can to keep City from making up any ground, though Roberto Martinez’ side will need to find an upswing in this season’s woefully inconsistent form. Despite strengthening the squad over the summer, Everton have slipped in to the bottom half of the table instead of rising in to Champions League places as planned. If they can sneak a win today, though, Everton stand to rise as high as 8th in the table if other results go their way; with how tight-packed that area of the EPL is right now, a win could help kick-start a rapid rise up the table for the blue side of Liverpool.

Today at the Britannia Stadium in Stoke, fifth-place Arsenal visit thirteenth-place Stoke City in an interesting matchup. Not only is this a test between a heating-up Arsenal side on the road against a Stoke team that’s been in a slump after a hot start to the season, it’s also something of a fire-and-ice duel.

Arsenal, as they’ve essentially always been under Arsene Wenger, are reliant on skill and guile to get their job done. Stoke City, even under Mark Hughes, are a very physical, direct, hit-you-in-the-mouth side. How two sides that are so opposite of one another is always fascinating to watch unfold, and this tie should be no exception.

Key player - Diego Costa (Chelsea)

Newcastle United injuries and suspensions

Thanks to two straight league victories Liverpool have crept up to 8th place in the table, moving within striking distance of the race for a European place. Considering how tumultuous this season has been for the Reds, it’s actually a pretty good situation, though this month will likely determine how good fans are feeling about things.

Liverpool injuries and suspensions