Premier League, Week 25: Manchester United stunned at home again

Knowing that they’d need to defend deep and look for chances on the break for the rest of the game, Fulham introduced Bent in place of Tankovic at halftime. They made another seemingly sensible substitution in the 65th minute, with Scott Parker coming in for Ryan Tunnicliffe, but he had a part in United’s second goal.

Also worth noting: Manchester United broke the Premier League record for crosses in a game. Fulham’s Dan Burn is 6’7”.

That proved to be enough for Spurs to withstand the late Everton surge, meaning they leapfrog them into fifth place in the table. It wasn’t a great performance, but Tim Sherwood certainly won’t care.

Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris; Rose, Vertonghen, Dawson, Walker; Dembélé, Bentaleb, Paulinho (Capoue 68’); Eriksen (Townsend 59’), Adebayor, Lennon (Defoe 86’).

Manchester United injuries and suspensions

Out: Jonny Evans (calf), Nani (hamstring). In Doubt: Rio Ferdinand (knee), Phil Jones (concussion)

Tottenham Hotspur injuries and suspensions

Out: Erik Lamela (thigh), Sandro (calf), Vlad Chiricheș (unspecified) In doubt: None.

Monk made a change at halftime, introducing Pablo Hernandez in the place of Marvin Emnes. That substitution paid off in less than two minutes, with Hernandez setting up the game’s opening goal. He played an absolutely brilliant through ball into the path of Routledge, who found enough space to beat Marshall from the left side of the penalty area.

Swansea: Vorm, Davies, Williams, Chico, Rangel, Britton, De Guzman (Canas 69’), Routledge, Emnes (Hernandez 45’), Dyer (Taylor 88’), Bony

Liverpool subjected Arsenal to an utter humiliation, blowing them away with four goals in the first twenty minutes to leave a serious dent in the Gunners’ title chances as the Reds ran amok at Anfield.

Full match report here.

Chelsea: Cech, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Luiz, Ivanovic, Matic, Lampard, Hazard (Schürrle 85’), Oscar, Willian (Salah 78’), Eto’o (Ba 71’)

Goals: Hazard (27’, 34’, pen 64’)

Less than two minutes later Norwich put the ball in the back of the net but the linesman wasted no time raising his flag and correctly disallowing the goal on a offside call.

The entire second half was summed up a single moment in the 77th minute when Manuel Pellegrini -- the match scoreless and his team with a chance to go first -- decided to take off forward Alvaro Negredo and replace him with defender Aleksander Kolarov.

Kickoff is at 12:45 p.m. local time, 7:45 p.m. ET. You can catch the game on BBC One in the U.K. and USA Network in the United States.

However, though Swansea are up in 12th and Cardiff down in 19th, there’s incredibly only three points separating these sides in the table. Make no mistake, this is a massive game for both sides. It’s not just the pride of Wales which is on the line. Both of these sides are right in the thick of a massive relegation scrap.

Swansea City injuries and suspensions

One thing Pardew and Newcatle have going for them is good recent run of success against the Blues, including a 2-0 win in the return fixture back in early November.

Chelsea injuries and suspensions

Norwich City injuries and suspensions

Out: Elliott Bennett (knee), Jonny Howson (back), Michael Turner (hamstring). In doubt: Ryan Bennett (thigh).

Brendan Rodgers’ side have fallen right off the pace after a good start, and are now a pretty big eight points off the top of their table. Having had as disappointing a January as the Gunners, it’s likely the best they can hope for now is a top four finish.

Liverpool injuries and suspensions

Anfield; Saturday, 12:45 GMT/7:45 AM ET

Villa Park; Saturday, 15:00 GMT/7:00 AM ET

In a sense, however, the two clubs ended up with less than Nothing. Liverpool ended up with what Nothing discards from his pockets while it’s going through its loose change. They got Nothing, plus the humiliation of having sought out Something and not getting it, and having to settle for Nothing. Nothing, minus the dignity and the calmness that would have come with simply not pursuing anyone because they were happy with their squad and felt it wasn’t good enough. Now, they have essentially admitted that they needed another player, and that they don’t fancy their own chances much.

Much has been made of Arsenal’s tricky February, but both they and Liverpool also have a March that will also be disastrous should they fail to navigate it. Liverpool don’t have European competition to worry about, and may only be fighting on one front by that point, but they also have far less squad depth. If January does prove to be a mistake, it is in these two months when that will become clear.