Premier League results in full as Crystal Palace get first win of 2023

Manchester City and Arsenal continued apace at the top of the Premier League thanks to respective 4-1 wins.

Pep Guardiola’s Erling Haaland-less side downed Liverpool 4-1 at the Etihad. Goals from Julian Alvarez, Kevin de Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish cancelled out Mo Salah’s opener to give City first blood in the title race.

But Arsenal proved they are not going anywhere in a hurry, as they swept aside Leeds 4-1 thanks to a brace from Gabriel Jesus and goals from Ben White and Granit Xhaka.

Mikel Arteta’s men remain eight points ahead and they became the first side to win seven consecutive Premier League games this season, although City still have a game in hand.

Elsewhere, a 94th-minute Jean-Philippe Mateta goal ensured that a transformed Crystal Palace got all three points in their first game of the second Roy Hodgson era.

Selhurst Park has been starved of goals all season, yet 31 shots demonstrated that Hodgson plans on doing things slightly differently.

Leicester had taken the lead through Ricardo Pereira, before Daniel Iversen scored an own goal just three minutes later in his second Premier League game.

And the “Moneyball” derby on the South Coast lived up to its billing, as a 90th-minute Alexis Mac Allister penalty ensured Brighton shared the points with Brentford in a 3-3 draw.

Pontus Jansson gave the Bees an early lead, before Kaoru Mitoma equalised on 21 minutes. Ivan Toney restored the Brentford lead a minute later, which was again nullified by Danny Welbeck before the half-hour mark.

Ethan Pinnock looked to have won it for Thomas Frank’s side just after half-time, but Mac Allister’s late spot-kick meant the two sides remain neck-and-neck in the table.

Bournemouth grabbed a crucial three points in the relegation battle, beating Fulham 2-1 thanks to goals from Marcus Tavernier and Dominic Solanke.

While in the Midlands, Nottingham Forest and Wolves shared the points after Brennan Johnson’s first-half opener and Daniel Podence’s late equaliser.

Analysis: Are City better without Haaland?

Pep Guardiola has never admitted it, while those who have even suggested the notion have done so with a hint of embarrassment at the very thought of it.

But, perhaps, there is at least some element of truth, as ridiculous as it sounds, in the possibility that Manchester City are a more fluid attacking machine without goalscoring phenom Erling Haaland in it.

If Haaland was passed fit to face Liverpool, he would certainly have started – how can you drop someone making a mockery of breaking records week on week? Nonetheless, there would have been no tears in the City dressing room from Guardiola pre-match when the Norwegian told his manager personally he wasn’t fit to play.

Instead, what transpired was the perfect afternoon for the madcap Catalan – thrashing a rival, his way. The false nine, sumptuous football with everyone playing an equal part, just as Karl Marx imagined the world, in a fluid formation – all the Guardiola hits were fulfilled as these once great rivals continued on very trajectories this season.

It is the most luxurious luxury to have and not entirely surprising at the same time when you consider how near-perfect City have been in the transfer market in recent time – Haaland will start when he is fit, and likely score a hat-trick. When he isn’t in the team, the aesthetics of the football on show go up a notch still. Ridiculous.

Fundamentally, as they often do when it really, really matters, City are hitting top gear, Haaland or no Haaland. Two different ways of winning games, both just as effective.

If Guardiola could have it totally his way for the rest of the season, at home and abroad, having to cope without one of the best goalscorers the world has ever seen may not be such a bad thing for a prolonged period. Just don’t expect him to say as such.

Read Pete Hall’s full analysis from the Etihad here