West Ham United capitalised on two mistakes from Arsenal's new goalkeeper Petr Cech to claim a surprise 2-0 victory at the Emirates and bring the Gunners' early Premier League optimism down to earth with a bump on Sunday.
A summary of Saturday's action in the Premier League.
On a day of frenetic spending that took the Premier League total to a record far above one billion pounds ($1.29 billion), Antonio Conte's side also missed out on two of their other targets - Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Fernando Llorente.
Manchester United teenager Marcus Rashford wrote another chapter in his fairytale introduction to top-flight football, scoring a brilliant goal to secure a 1-0 win in his first derby match against Manchester City on Sunday.
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.
An Eden Hazard hat-trick swept Chelsea back to the top of the Premier League on Saturday when they beat Newcastle United 3-0 at Stamford Bridge after previous leaders Arsenal were thrashed 5-1 at Liverpool.
Injuries have blighted Liverpool's start but Adam Lallana is back in full training after damaging his thigh pre-season and is expected to feature while another injury concern, Sadio Mane, also trained on Wednesday after tweaking a hamstring on international duty with Senegal.
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.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Reuters sports writers chose their team of the tournament.
Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele scored twice and produced a mesmerising display to fire his side to a 5-1 win over Villarreal on Wednesday which stretched the champions' unbeaten run this season to 36 games with two remaining.
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Wednesday.
Real Madrid's stuttering season continued as they were reduced to 10 men and then slumped to an 11th La Liga defeat of the campaign by going down 3-1 at Real Sociedad.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Tuesday night.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
IMAGES from La Liga matches played on Sunday
Barcelona were held to a frustrating 0-0 draw at Olympique Lyonnais in their Champions League last-16 first leg on Tuesday as both sides remained unbeaten in this season's competition.
Jose Mourinho's wretched week ended on a high note as Manchester United's big guns Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba finally began firing, both finding the target in a 3-1 win at dismal Swansea City on Sunday. Mourinho watched from the stands at the Liberty Stadium following his touchline ban imposed by the Football Association on Wednesday and was buoyed to see Ibrahimovic score twice -- his first league goals in eight weeks -- and Pogba net a superb volley. United, vastly improved after their midweek Europa League defeat at Fenerbahce, went ahead with a 15th minute strike from Pogba worthy of his 89 million pounds price tag before Ibrahimovic ended his goal drought with a sharp first-half double in the space of 12 minutes.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Images from football action around European leagues played on Sunday
Lionel Messi came off the bench to inspire Barcelona to a 3-1 win over a dogged Leganes side on Sunday, creating one goal and scoring another to keep the Catalans five points clear at the top of La Liga.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Valverde said he was concerned about the team's away form after they were comprehensively beaten 2-0 by promoted Granada
Images from Sunday's English Premier League matches.
Manchester City swept aside second-tier Cardiff City 2-0 with first-half goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling on Sunday to reach the FA Cup fifth round in their quest to win an unprecedented four trophies this season.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Liverpool added another fairytale comeback to the history books as they fought back from 3-1 down against Borussia Dortmund to reach the Europa League semi-finals after Dejan Lovren's towering stoppage-time header secured a 4-3 win on Thursday.
Champions Barcelona reclaimed top spot in La Liga on Sunday by overcoming a dogged Villarreal side to win 2-0 at home with goals from stalwart defender Gerard Pique and youngster Carles Alena taking them above Sevilla.
Tottenham Hotspur brutally exposed Liverpool's defensive frailties as Harry Kane plundered two more goals in his side's 4-1 romp at Wembley on Sunday.
Danny Rose scored a second-half equaliser to cancel out James Milner's penalty as Tottenham Hotspur came from behind to draw 1-1 with Liverpool at White Hart Lane on Saturday.
This and more from the happenings in the world of football
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
Chelsea heaped more Christmas misery on Liverpool with a 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge and Olivier Giroud ended a seven-game scoring drought to help Arsenal win 1-0 at Newcastle United and return to the top of the Premier League on Sunday.
Copa America kicks off in Chile on Thursday as a widening US-led investigation lifts the lid on rampant corruption among the sport's top officials.
Images from the UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg matches played on Wednesday
Quaison fires Sweden to extra-time World Cup playoff win over Czechs
Sergio Aguero struck twice as Manchester City came from behind to beat Burnley 2-1 at Turf Moor in the Premier League on Saturday.
Arsenal scored twice in the opening seven minutes and ended the match as a contest with a third in the 19th as they crushed Manchester United 3-0 to move above them into second place in the Premier League at the Emirates on Sunday.
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