Aston Villa ended Manchester United's winning run with a 1-1 draw, while Southampton arrested their slump with a 3-0 victory over Everto...
Aston Villa ended Manchester United's winning run with a 1-1 draw, while Southampton arrested their slump with a 3-0 victory over Everton.
Champions Manchester City moved level on points with Premier League leaders Chelsea after defeating Crystal Palace 3-0 in the lunchtime kick-off at the Etihad Stadium.
City made light of their lack of available strikers, with David Silva's brace plus a goal from Yaya Toure, all notched after the break, steering them to what proved a routine victory and their eight successive win in all competitions.
Manuel Pellegrini's second-placed side join Chelsea, who are at Stoke on Monday night, on 39 points having played a game more, while their goal difference is inferior to the table-toppers' by one.
Third-placed United are seven points behind Chelsea and Manchester City following their draw at 10-man Aston Villa, which ended the Red Devils' six-game winning streak.
The hosts led against the run of play through Christian Benteke's fine, curling finish in the 18th minute, but a Radamel Falcao header drew things level in the 53rd before Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor was controversially sent off following a challenge on Ashley Young.
West Ham remain fourth and are just a point behind United after beating rock-bottom Leicester 2-0 at Upton Park.
Andy Carroll pounced on a Paul Konchesky error to put the home side in front in the first half and the seal was put on the Foxes' 10th defeat in a 12-game winless sequence when Stewart Downing fired in after the interval.
Southampton emphatically brought an end to their run of five straight losses in all competitions by seeing off Everton 3-0 at St Mary's.
A Romelu Lukaku own-goal and efforts from Graziano Pelle - his 11th club goal of the season - and Maya Yoshida sealed the points for the fifth-placed Saints, who are two points behind West Ham.
Tottenham are up to sixth, with goals from Harry Kane - now with 13 goals for Spurs this term - and Erik Lamela either side of Ashley Barnes' reply guiding them to a 2-1 home win over Burnley.
At the other end of the table, QPR moved out of the relegation zone as Charlie Austin's hat-trick saw them complete a remarkable comeback from 2-0 down to defeat West Brom 3-2 at Loftus Road.
Albion raced into a two-goal lead through early efforts from Joleon Lescott and Silvestre Varela, but Austin swiftly hit back with a penalty before adding a leveller and then 86th-minute winner.
It takes his goal tally for the season to 11, while his team have moved up from 18th to 15th, two points clear of the drop zone.
Burnley have replaced QPR in the bottom three, slipping to 18th place, while Hull stay 19th after they lost 1-0 at home against Swansea.
Ki Sung-yeung's early strike proved the difference as the Tigers' run without a win extended to 10 games.
Premier League reports:
Manchester City 3 Crystal Palace 0
Aston Villa 1 Manchester United 1,
Hull 0 Swansea 1,
QPR 3 West Brom 2,
Southampton 3 Everton 0,
Tottenmham 2 Burnley 1,
West Ham 2 Leicester 0.
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