EPL Round-up: City go clear at the top as United drop points

In the lunchtime kick-off on Saturday, current holders of the Premier League Manchester United dropped points at Anfield, allowing rivals Manchester City to go clear at the top of the table.

United did eventually earn themselves a 1-1 draw against Liverpool, but it could have been worse as the home side (565650WQ) had enough chances to win the match, and could have sneaked the game even after United had equalised. It wasn't until midway through the second half that the deadlock was broken, and it came through Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard, back in the starting line-up for the first time since injury. His goal came directly from a free kick, but questions will be asked of Ryan Giggs in the Manchester United wall as he allowed Gerrard to simply place the ball through the wall and past the helpless David de Gea.

Alex Ferguson brought on Javier Hernandez in search of an equaliser, and the move paid off as the little Mexican marksman scored a vital header from a corner, with just 9 minutes remaining. Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt then had a wonderful chance to win the game, but de Gea pulled off a fantastic save at point blank range.

The draw gave Manchester City (273576AY) the incentive to go 2 points clear at the top of the table, and they duly obliged in their match later in the day. They hosted Aston Villa at the Etihad stadium, and recorded a fairly comfortable victory over Alex McLeish's men. After a nervous start, Mario Balotelli put the home side ahead with a spectacular overhead kick, and this was followed up with further City goals from Adam Johnson, Vincent Kompany and former Villa man James Milner. Stephen Warnock had briefly given the visitors some hope between the third and fourth goals when he pulled one back, but it was a mere consolation goal by the end of the match.

Elsewhere, there were emphatic wins for third placed Chelsea and and newcomers Norwich, and still unbeaten Newcastle played out an entertaining 2-2 draw with Spurs on the Sunday.

Results in full:

Saturday 15th October

Chelsea 3-1 Everton

Man City 4-1 Aston Villa

Liverpool 1-1 Man United

Norwich 3-1 Swansea

QPR 1-1 Blackburn

Stoke 2-0 Fulham

Wigan 1-3 Bolton

Sunday 16th October

Arsenal 2-1 Sunderland

Newcastle 2-2 Tottenham

West Brom 2-0 Wolves

Premier League Table:

		P	GD	PTS
1	Man City	8	21	22
2	Man Utd	8	19	20
3	Chelsea	8	11	19
4	Newcastle	8	5	16
5	Liverpool	8	2	14
6	Tottenham	7	1	13
7	Stoke	8	-2	12
8	Aston Villa	8	1	11
9	Norwich	8	-1	11
10	Arsenal	8	-5	10
11	QPR	8	-8	9
12	West Brom	8	-3	8
13	Swansea	8	-5	8
14	Fulham	8	1	7
15	Everton	7	-4	7
16	Wolves	8	-6	7
17	Sunderland	8	0	6
18	Bolton	8	-10	6
19	Wigan	8	-8	5
20	Blackburn	8	-9	5

By Laurie Dunsire