The football comes thick and fast over the festive period and there were another seven Premier League fixtures on Saturday.
There were plenty of goals and, unsurprisingly, more VAR controversy. Here’s what happened and for the latest reaction tune into SPORT now!
Watford took a big leap towards safety with a stunning 3-0 victory over Aston Villa despite being reduced to ten men.
The three points looked to be in jeopardy when Adrian Mariappa saw red on 57 minutes with the Hornets just one goal in front.
But Troy Deeney, who opened the scoring, doubled Watford’s lead from the spot before Ismaila Sarr made it three.
Watford have now claimed seven points from their first four games under Nigel Pearson and move to within three points of safety.
In the late kick-off, goals from Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford saw Manchester United claim a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Burnley at Turf Moor.
In a match of few clear cut chances, the visitors broke the deadlock in the 44th minute when Andreas Pereira robbed Burnley left-back Charlie Taylor on the touchline and played a quick ball for Martial to run on to and slot past Pope.
Despite a spirited second-half effort, the Clarets were ultimately powerless to breach a resolute United defence and in the dying minutes of the game Rashford powered in clean through to seal the three points for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men.
Everton are experiencing a resurgence under their new manager, Carlo Ancelotti, who continued his perfect start with a 2-1 victory at Newcastle.
Fabian Schar cancelled out Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s opener, but the Englishman wasn’t to be denied.
He scored his third goal in two games under Ancelotti to give the Toffees back-to-back wins.
In the early evening kick-off, Demarai Gray missed a first-half penalty but scored a second-half winner as Leicester defeated West Ham in a 2-1 victory.
Gray, one of nine new faces in a much-changed Foxes line-up, fluffed the opportunity to open his Premier League goal account for the season from the spot after only 12 minutes.
But the winger made amends after the interval to fire second-placed Leicester to a first league win in four games while inflicting a fourth straight home defeat on woeful West Ham, who subsequently sacked manager Manuel Pellegrini following the match.
Elsewhere, Tottenham needed a late penalty from Harry Kane to salvage a 2-2 draw at Norwich, who were the latest team to suffer from VAR’s interpretation of the offside law.
Kane struck from the spot in the 83rd minute to deny the Canaries a first Premier League home win since beating Manchester City in September after they led through Mario Vrancic’s opener and Serge Aurier’s own goal.
It might have been a completely different story had Teemu Pukki’s goal not been marginally ruled out by the perpendicular lines of VAR with Norwich leading 1-0, as the focus again zooms in on the offside law and technology’s role in applying it.
They were fortunate to come up against a Spurs team enduring one of their worst performances of a patchy season, but Jose Mourinho’s men, who had previously levelled through Christian Eriksen, did at least rally for a point thanks to marksman Kane.
Meanwhile, Brighton recorded their first home win since November 2 with a convincing 2-0 victory over struggling Bournemouth.
Iran international Alireza Jahanbakhsh gave the Seagulls a third-minute lead with a powerful shot, his first goal for the club.
VAR ruled out a second-half goal from Dan Burn after the Brighton left-back was judged to be offside by the tightest of margins.
But Aaron Mooy rewarded Brighton’s domination with a brilliant second goal 11 minutes from time.
And, finally, Southampton and Crystal Palace drew 1-1 at St Mary’s.
Palace were denied an early lead when Max Meyer smashed home, only for Wilfried Zaha to be ruled marginally offside by VAR in the build-up.
James Tomkins headed Palace in front before Danny Ings levelled with his 12th goal of the season.
Premier League results
Brighton 2-0 Bournemouth
Newcastle 1-2 Everton
Southampton 1-1 Crystal Palace
Norwich 2-2 Tottenham
West Ham 1-2 Leicester
Burnley 0-2 Manchester United
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