Premier League scores, Week 12: Yaya Toure returns from exile to save Manchester City

Saturday’s slate of Premier League games did not feature the most convincing performances or beautiful goals of the season, but it was extremely high on drama. All of Arsenal, Manchester City, Everton, and Tottenham Hotspur had to dig deep to grind out late results, breaking the hearts of their opponents in the process. The team that played the best soccer on the day was probably Manchester United, but they’ll walk away from round 12 more disappointed than anyone else.

City is joint top of the table thanks to the heroics of Yaya Toure, who made a surprise return to his team’s starting XI against Crystal Palace. As you’ll see, it was a stroke of genius from Pep Guardiola.

Saturday’s scores

He was denied his birthday cake. He was left off the Champions League squad. His agent repeatedly made threats. But eventually, Toure apologized for his role in his repeated disagreements with City managers and executives. His apology must have been sincere, because he was handed a starting role on Saturday by Guardiola, the man who shipped him out of Barcelona. He scored a brace.

It’s unclear what kind of a role Toure will play in City’s squad going forward. He’s 33, doesn’t do enough defensively to start in midfield, and probably isn’t worth playing ahead of City’s first-choice attackers. But he’s certainly still useful and still one of the most skilled strikers of the ball in the Premier League. As if Guardiola needed any extra weapons.

With an international break behind them and a must-win Champions League match against AS Monaco ahead, Spurs had to rest some of their stars against West Ham United. Without true backups for their starters, Spurs had to adjust to a formation they’d never played before, and the results weren’t good — they looked disjointed and fell behind West Ham on two separate occasions.

By the 89th minute, a West Ham victory was starting to look inevitable. Then Harry Kane came up huge, scoring the equalizer before converting a penalty that Son Heung-Min won to grab all three points for Spurs. Think Spurs fans were happy?

It has been a rough month for Spurs, but they might be able to right the ship after finally breaking their streak of seven games without a win.

Mauricio Pochettino was probably the luckiest manager in the Premier League on Saturday, while Jurgen Klopp and Bob Bradley were left to compete for the title of unluckiest.

Liverpool blanked Southampton on the road, allowing zero shots on target to the Saints. They created a handful of quality chances, but a combination of solid goalkeeping and poor finishing kept them off the board in their 0-0 draw.

Meanwhile, Bradley continues to wait for his first win as Swansea manager. His team took an early lead and defended well, but eventually conceded an equalizer on this brilliant header.

We don’t want to go overboard — Sunderland beat Hull City, who is a very bad team — but a month ago they didn’t look capable of posting a 3-0 win over a non-league side. They’ll be thrilled with their second straight victory, which brings them within three points of safety. Check out Victor Anichebe’s first goal, Sunderland’s second.

The big key to Sunderland’s revival has been the partnership between Anichebe and Jermain Defoe, who tallied a goal and an assist on Saturday. Their big man–quick man strike pairing at the front of a signature structured Moyes team feels 10 years out of date, but it’s working.

Coming into this week, Stoke was a team on the rise, while Bournemouth was starting to slump. Then the international break happened, shook everything up, and the Cherries got a crucial away victory in a tough enviornment. With Swansea and Stoke on their way up, the relegation battle looks as though it might genuinely involve the entire bottom half, with roughly 10 teams battling it out to avoid two relegation spots.

Hull is genuinely poor, while Leicester, West Ham, and Southampton are probably better than recent results, but the rest of the bottom half is extremely evenly matched. Expect this battle to go down to May.

While fans were speculating about the effect that players like Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante, and Ilkay Gundogan might have on their new teams, Pereyra’s move to Watford flew under the radar. For a fee of just £11 million ($13.6 million) to Juventus, Watford appear to have captured one of the best attacking midfielders in the Premier League. They’re sitting in the top half, away from the relegation scrum, thanks to goals like this one.

This was Pereyra’s third goal of the season to go along with two assists and a bunch more passes before the assist, like the one he had on Watford’s opening goal against Leicester. He’s become a perfect link between Etienne Capoue and Troy Deeney in the Hornets’ attack.

Middlesbrough hosts Chelsea at 11 a.m. on Sunday, while Burnley travels to take on West Bromwich Albion at 3 p.m. on Monday. Both games are on NBCSN in the United States, and can be seen online at NBC Sports Live. For listings from other countries, check out Live Soccer TV.