Premier League: Manchester City 3 (Bernardo 8, De Bruyne 31, Doku 57) Nottingham Forest 0
Manchester City snapped out of their downward spiral as they roared back into life with a convincing 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest.
Goals from Bernardo Silva, a rejuvenated Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku saw the champions finally get back to winning ways after an alarming run of six defeats in seven games in all competitions.
With four of those losses having come in the Premier League, City’s title hopes may already be over but they looked more like their old selves as they overran Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.
Forest were seeking their first win at City since 1989 and, after ending a 55-year wait for a victory at Anfield earlier this season, may have fancied their chances of breaking another hoodoo given recent form.
Yet despite just a one-point gap between the sides at kick-off, they came up against a fired-up City team determined to arrest a slide that included bruising defeats against Tottenham and Liverpool.
De Bruyne was instrumental as he returned to the starting line-up for the first time since September, his fitness problems – and speculation about his relationship with manager Pep Guardiola – seemingly behind him.
With Jack Grealish also revelling in a more central role, City went straight onto the front foot and went close as Erling Haaland drew a save from Matz Sels from a De Bruyne cutback.
The opener came after just eight minutes as Ilkay Gundogan floated a ball which De Bruyne met with a powerful header. It seemed destined for the bottom corner but Bernardo Silva got the final touch from close range.
Josko Gvardiol should have had a second soon after when he planted a header wide from a cross by the lively Bernardo Silva.
It was the start of an eventful few minutes for Gvardiol, who had committed a number of costly errors in his most recent outings.
Again he was at fault as he was dispossessed by Jota Silva but goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, preferred to Ederson for a second successive game, beat away the shot from Morgan Gibbs-White that followed.
Gvardiol, who had been given licence to get forward, then spurned another chance at the other end when he dragged a shot wide after being played in by Haaland.
City survived another scare on the half-hour when De Bruyne’s underhit pass was seized upon by Chris Wood.
The in-form New Zealander looked certain to score as he closed in on goal but failed to hit the target.
It was a miss the visitors were to rue immediately as Doku breezed past Ryan Yates to tee up De Bruyne, who picked his spot and thumped home.
With Guardiola trying to rally the crowd, it was clear City wanted more but it was actually Forest who finished the first half stronger as Anthony Elanga and Nikola Milenkovic both had good chances.
Yet they failed to take advantage and Doku put the game beyond doubt in the 57th minute as he raced onto a Haaland pass and cut inside to fire past Sels from just inside the area.
De Bruyne could have had another when he curled a free-kick just wide but he was withdrawn to a good ovation after 74 minutes.
Elliot Anderson gave Ortega a shot to save late on but there was to be no repeat of last week’s Feyenoord capitulation as City saw out the game in a manner previously taken for granted.
Southampton 1 (Aribo 11) Chelsea 5 (Disasi 7, Nkunku 17, Madueke 34, Palmer 76, Sancho 87)
Southampton captain Jack Stephens was sent off for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair as the Premier League’s bottom club were thrashed 5-1 by high-flying Chelsea.
Defender Stephens saw red in the 39th minute at St Mary’s, having tugged the curls of Cucurella during an inexplicable moment of madness while Saints were preparing to take a corner.
Chelsea already led 3-1 at that stage thanks to goals from Christopher Nkunku and Noni Madueke after Southampton midfielder Joe Aribo briefly cancelled out Axel Disasi’s early opener.
Second-half finishes from Cole Palmer and Jadon Sancho piled more misery on Russell Martin’s men.
Stephens’ ridiculous dismissal was the headline mistake of a catalogue of errors from the beleaguered hosts as they slipped seven points from safety following an 11th defeat of a dismal season.
Chelsea, who stretched their unbeaten run to six top-flight games, could easily have won by more as they hit the woodwork three times, in addition to squandering a host of chances.
Blues head coach Enzo Maresca had warned his players to expect their “toughest game” of the season in Hampshire before making seven changes following Sunday’s impressive 3-0 win over Aston Villa.
Blues goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen made his Premier League debut as part of the squad rotation, while depleted Southampton were missing a host of key players through a combination of injury and suspension.
Jorgensen, a £20million summer arrival from Villarreal, was forced into a second-minute save to deny Aribo following Walker-Peters’ cross, albeit the latter was subsequently flagged offside.
Chelsea's Cole Palmer celebrates scoring their side's fourth goal of the game. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Chelsea's Cole Palmer celebrates scoring their side's fourth goal of the game. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Chelsea edged ahead just five minutes later. Captain Enzo Fernandez delivered a dangerous inswinging corner from the left and Disasi escaped the Saints defence to head home from a yard out.
Despite falling behind, Southampton’s start was relatively encouraging and they were rewarded with an 11th-minute leveller.
Walker-Peters again provided the creativity, easily beating Fernandez close to the left byline before delivering a low cross for Aribo to sweep home.
From that moment on, it was downhill for Martin’s team.
Chelsea were gifted back the lead in the 17th minute when an attempted pass from advanced Saints goalkeeper Joe Lumley to Walker-Peters was intercepted by Madueke, who slipped in Nkunku to slot into the unguarded net.
Fourth-choice Saints keeper Lumley, selected in the absence of Aaron Ramsdale and Gavin Bazunu and amid the poor form of Alex McCarthy, partially redeemed himself by turning a Palmer effort on to the right post.
Tosin Adarabioyo headed against the crossbar from the resulting corner before Madueke doubled the visitors’ lead in the 34th minute by cutting inside Ryan Manning to delightfully curl into the bottom left corner.
Southampton repeatedly invited pressure with their risky attempts to play out from defence and they suffered another self-inflicted setback just before the break.
After referee Tony Harrington was called to the pitch-side monitor by VAR, Stephens was dismissed for the second time this term following a foolish tangle with Cucurella in the Chelsea penalty area as James Bree waited to take the set-piece.
Adarabioyo lashed against the right post and Madueke was twice denied by Lumley as Chelsea sought to increase their advantage following the restart.
Southampton almost halved their deficit before Madueke’s opportunities when Jorgensen denied Mateus Fernandes with his feet.
But, following a brief delay caused by a pitch invader, Palmer extinguished Saints’ scant hopes of a fightback by tapping in his ninth goal of the season in the 76th minute after Nkunku did the hard work.
Travelling fans saluted a dominant victory by chanting ‘we’ve got our Chelsea back’ and singing the name of their manager in the closing stages.
Substitute Sancho increased the gloom among the home supporters three minutes from time, firing powerfully past Lumley at his near post to complete the rout.
Everton 4 (Young 10, Mangala 33, Dawson 49 OG, 72 OG) Wolves 0
Everton hit four past Wolves as they racked up their biggest home win since April 2019 to ease some of the growing pressure on manager Sean Dyche.
The Premier League’s joint-lowest scorers suddenly found their fortunes had changed as Ashley Young scored his first goal in more than two years just eight months short of his 40th birthday to kick-start a vital 4-0 victory.
But becoming the club’s oldest goalscorer and the oldest player to rack up 50 in the Premier League was merely the start of an extraordinary game on one of the few remaining nights under the lights at Goodison Park.
On-loan midfielder Orel Mangala, having being found guilty by VAR of interfering from an offside position when James Tarkowski netted, made amends by lashing home for his first since joining from Lyon.
However, the luck did not extend to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, back in the side after being dropped against Manchester United, whose goalless run extended to 10 games after Craig Dawson was credited with two second-half own goals after coming under pressure from the striker who looked back to his bright best.
The result put Wolves head coach Gary O’Neil under even more scrutiny with the team second from bottom and four adrift of safety.
With fixtures to come against top-six sides Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest, having already been hammered 4-0 at Old Trafford, even in December this was a must-win game for Everton and success lifted them five clear of the bottom three.
However, no-one could have predicted the one-sidedness of a game which, before kick-off, pitted the league’s joint-worst attack (10 goals) against the worst defence (Wolves conceded 35) and the subdued atmosphere exemplified how high the stakes were.
But Everton have shown with their relegation escapes over the last three years, including last December when they bounced back from an eight-point deduction for financial irregularities by winning four in row, they somehow find a way when the chips are down.
Dyche has spent weeks answering questions about how he was going to solve their goalscoring problems, having gone 370 minutes without a goal, but – unsurprisingly – Young’s name never came up once.
The midfielder-turned-full back had found the net once, in the Carabao Cup, in his previous 73 appearances so there was not a great degree of optimism when he lined up a 10th-minute free kick.
Wolves head coach Gary O’Neil would argue the set-piece had been wrongly awarded as Abdoulaye Doucoure had already taken a shot at goal and blazed over after referee Michael Salisbury played advantage for a foul on Dominic Calvert-Lewin only for the official to then bring play back for the infringement.
Young duly curled a low shot around the wall and just inside Jose Sa’s left-hand post as Wolves’ poor defensive record extended to one clean sheet – against bottom side Southampton – all season.
When Tarkowski headed in Dwight McNeil’s inswinging cross, VAR referred Salisbury to the monitor as Mangala was in an offside position blocking Mario Lemina and the effort was ruled out.
Calvert-Lewin forced Sa to save with his legs before Jordan Pickford, on his 300th Premier League appearance, produced an important stop from Jorgen Strand Larsen.
Mangala redeemed himself with a powerful drive from the edge of the area which Sa got a hand to but even 2-0 up at half-time was no guarantee for an Everton side low on confidence.
Four minutes after the break they could breathe easier as Dawson turned in a cross as Calvert-Lewin jumped for a corner with Sa, and the Wolves centre-back suffered a similar fate when the striker flung himself at another cross.
Iliman Ndiaye also had a goal disallowed for a foul on Sa after following up his own shot and Matt Doherty’s header against the post was scant response from the visitors, who have now conceded four or more four times already this season and were booed when they went over to applaud the travelling fans.
Aston Villa 3 (Rogers 21, Watkins 28, Cash 34) Brentford 1 (Damsgaard 54)
Aston Villa ended an eight-game winless run as they beat Brentford 3-1, having scored all of their goals in the space of 15 first-half minutes.
Morgan Rogers got the first in the 21st minute with a superb curling strike, and Ollie Watkins doubled the lead from the penalty spot seven minutes later after being fouled by Ethan Pinnock in the box.
Matty Cash then made it 3-0 in the 34th minute, with Mikkel Damsgaard getting one back for the visitors early in the second half.