The Champions League quarter-final between Liverpool and Manchester City is one of the most anticipated games of the season pitting the Premier League's runaway leaders against the top scorers in Europe's elite competition.
IMAGES from the EPL matches played on Sunday.
Leaders Bayern Munich eased past VfB Stuttgart 2-0 on Saturday to grab their first win of the year, as did Borussia Dortmund who beat Freiburg 3-0 to climb off the bottom of the Bundesliga table.
Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet saved an early penalty and James Milner's shot was deflected into his own net by Havard Nordtveit for the English Premier League side's second goal in an end-to-end match.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Here are five talking points from the weekend's action:
Manchester City begin a crucial week in the Premier League title race when they host Arsenal at the Etihad on Sunday.
Following is reaction to the sacking of Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho, who was dismissed by the Premier League club on Tuesday.
Liverpool started the ball rolling with a convincing 4-1 win at home to promoted Norwich and City responded a day later with an even more emphatic 5-0 victory at West Ham United.
Inter, Liverpool sweating on last-16 spots
Manchester City now need, at most, 11 points from their remaining seven matches to secure their third Premier League title in four seasons.
IMAGES from EPL matches played on Sunday.
Fabinho's first-half goal earned Liverpool a 1-0 win at Burnley
Liverpool handed their fiercest rivals a painful lesson on Thursday with a dominant 2-0 win over Manchester United in the first leg of a Europa League last-16 clash.
Third-placed Leicester go to Hodgson's sixth-placed Crystal Palace on Sunday
A round-up of Sunday night's matches in the Premier League.
Roberto Firmino struck a stoppage-time winner as Liverpool beat Paris St Germain 3-2 at Anfield on Tuesday after Kylian Mbappe looked to have secured a point for the French side in a compelling Champions League Group C clash.
Jamie Vardy sent a screaming reminder that leaders Leicester City are in the Premier league title race for the long haul with a sensational strike in a 2-0 win over Liverpool on Tuesday.
Irresistible Chelsea go into the Christmas round of fixtures knowing they can end the year by re-writing the record books.
United beat Leicester City at Old Trafford in the opening game of the season but Spurs present a very different quality of opponent.
Is VAR sucking the life out of the game?
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The 19-year-old Mbappe followed up a domestic treble with Paris St Germain with a string of impressive performances in France's World Cup winning campaign.
After seven consecutive league defeats, and one point from the last 30 on offer, had plunged Villa into crisis and cost Tim Sherwood his job, the former European champions produced a gritty display to frustrate City.
Sergio Aguero struck twice as Manchester City moved into second place in the Premier League, two points behind leaders Liverpool, with a 3-1 win at Bournemouth on Sunday. Just three weeks into the new season and last year's top two clubs are already perched at the top of the table.
Images from the Premier League matches played on Saturday.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
Injury-ravaged Bayern Munich beat Hoffenheim 2-0 on Saturday, shrugging off a string of absences and their midweek Champions League defeat at Porto to close in on the Bundesliga title.
Liverpool took a giant step towards their first title since 1990 on Saturday when their 3-0 win at Bournemouth combined with Manchester United's 2-1 victory at Manchester City to leave the champions 14 points adrift of the Premier League leaders.
Facts and figures ahead of Saturday's Champions League final between holders Real Madrid and Liverpool in Kiev:
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Goalkeeper Alisson Becker scored a stunning header in the fifth minute of stoppage-time as Liverpool snatched a 2-1 victory at the death against relegated West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns on Sunday.
Manchester United climbed back up to second in the table after second-half goals by Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard earned a 2-0 victory at Everton -- their first win in five games in all competitions.
Liverpool's livewire Sadio Mane scored one goal and played a crucial part in the other as they reclaimed the Premier League's top spot with a scrappy 2-1 win at second bottom Fulham on Sunday.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is to stand down at the end of the season after a reign of almost 22 years that made him the most successful boss in the Premier League club's history.
Premier League leaders Leicester City moved even closer to the title by winning 2-0 at relegation-threatened Sunderland on Sunday. England international Jamie Vardy put them ahead in the 66th minute and he added his second -- and 21st of the season -- in added time. That left them 10 points ahead of second-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who play Manchester United later on Sunday. With five games left, Claudio Ranieri's unfashionable side need a maximum of nine more points to become English champions for the first time. Sunderland remain in the bottom three, four points behind Norwich City, who they play next Saturday. "It was tough, we knew it would be, but we ground it out," Vardy told Sky Sports. "We know it's a step closer but you never know what can happen. "The main thing now is we've got to take it into the next week."
IMAGES from the English Premier League match played between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford on Saturday
The win moved Spurs up to third but unbeaten Manchester City still looked in a class of their own at the top as Leroy Sane scored twice in a 4-0 stroll over West Ham United.
Aston Villa returned to winning ways in stunning fashion as Ollie Watkins scored twice in a 3-0 away thumping of an abject Arsenal in drizzly north London on Sunday.
Talking points from this weekend's Premier League action as top two Manchester City and Liverpool both won with City remaining a point clear with two games remaining.
