Five of the top six in the Premiership table took maximum points this weekend, with Manchester United going top and Manchester City unable to keep pace as they scraped by with a draw on Sunday.

The title race was once again thrown wide open, as Chelsea’s lead at the top was cut to a single point over Manchester United after falling 2-4 to Manchester City on Saturday. Arsenal took maximum points from Stoke City to move within three points of the top as well.

With Arsenal dropping games against Manchester United and Chelsea in the past week, the Premiership’s top two have opened a seven point gap on the Gunners in the title race. Chelsea’s 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge on Sunday ensured they stayed top of the table, two points ahead of United.

The clash between second and third placed Arsenal and Manchester United provided the only truly surprising result of the weekend, as the Red Devils completely silenced the home crowd at the Emirates. The rest of the fixture list went according to plan for the most part, as Chelsea stayed top of the table and the push for fourth place continued.

Postponements meant that only three matches went ahead as planned this matchday in the English Premier League. Saturday saw Birmingham City host Manchester United and Arsenal host Everton while Manchester City and Blackburn went ahead as planned on Monday.

Being the holiday season, the most appropriate way to approach this recap would be constructing a naughty and nice list. For example, Manchester City sacking Mark Hughes: most definitely naughty. However, City scoring five without conceding: very nice indeed. Now, on to the list.

Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool all dropped points away from home this weekend, while Arsenal, Aston Villa, Tottenham and Manchester City continued their impressive form.

The advantage fell to the visitors in this Sunday’s Premier League derbies as Chelsea, Liverpool and Birmingham City all won away from home in their respective matches. After Saturday’s results, the wins mean Chelsea stays top of the table, Arsenal falls to fourth behind Tottenham and Liverpool moves onto the brink of the top four.

Jermaine Defoe scored five times against Wigan on Sunday at White Hart Lane en route to a 9-1 win for Tottenham. It was Spurs’ largest win in the Premier League, the second largest in the history of the EPL. At the top of the table, Chelsea pushed on to keep their lead over Manchester United at five points.

As the night began, the skies were clear and bright and Liverpool supporters could be forgiven for thinking the future might be too. An early David N’Gog goal appeared to set the home side on track to turn their season around. However, as the fog descended, so did Liverpool’s fortunes.