This was a weekend that saw Tottenham and Arsenal meet for the 188th time and it was pivotal for both teams. Whilst Tottenham have merely danced in the shadows of Arsenal for the past five decades, the tide has been slowly turning for the past three years, now it seems at shore.
Tottenham stayed at the top of the league with a solid 2-0 home victory over Arsenal. Heung-Min Son scored an outstanding goal with a long range effort and Harry Kane added a second before the first half was up. Kane became the leading scorer in North London histories and Son and Kane have now scored 18 of Tottenham's 23 goals so far. The result left Tottenham dreaming and Arsenal screaming. Jose Mourinho's team are top from Liverpool on goal difference. Arsenal have dropped down to 15th place with 13 points and haven't won a game since beating Manchester United 1-0 at the beginning of November.
The contrast of both managers couldn't be any different. Jose Mourinho who had some of his lowest moments at recent spells with Chelsea and Manchester United is back on top of the league and full of smiles. Mikel Arteta looks like he is stuck in a cul-de-sac with no way out. But if football has taught us anything it is that situations change quickly. Arsenal will face Burnley next weekend at home and Tottenham will fancy their chances away to Crystal Palace.
As for Crystal Palace, special mention should be made for the club who trounced West Bromwich Albion 5-1. Wilfried Zaha is arguably having his best season as a football player and scored twice, so did Christian Benteke who has suffered long term injuries and been overall unlucky in the past few seasons. It felt like some kind of redemption. That was the Eagles fifth win of the season and puts them up to 11th place.
Chelsea came back from a goal down to beat Leeds United 3-1. Olivier Giroud is in brilliant form and following his 4 goals against Sevilla in the Champions League the Frenchman scored the Blues equaliser. Giroud has been tipped to move to Serie A in January but this form may get manager Frank Lampard to rethink that decision.
Liverpool and Manchester City, the two pre-season favourites for the league title won comfortably with the Reds smashing Wolves 4-0 and Manchester City easing to a 2-0 win over Fulham. City have scored seven goals in their last two games and with the Manchester derby next weekend could well move into the top 5.
Manchester United ended West Ham's good form with a 3-1 win in London. The Hammers had taken the lead but United got better as the game went on and powered through to ease the pressure on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Although United's equaliser seemed to go out of play in the build up and VAR like most weekends was involved in the controversial decision to let the goal stand. Despite Solskjaer's problems United have actually won their last four games. However there is rarely a quiet and content week at Old Trafford and Paul Pogba has announced via his agent that he wants to leave the club. It feels like the worlds biggest non secret, has Pogba ever looked happy at the club?
Leicester and Southampton have kept things interesting in the top six as they both recorded wins. Leicester left it until the last minute through that man Jamie Vardy as they beat Sheffield United 2-1.
Premier League: Team of the Week:
Lloris, Reguilon, Matip, Alexander-Arnold, Dier, De Bruyne, Salah, Zaha, Wijnaldum, Son, Benteke
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