The omens are good for a Chelsea side heading into Christmas top of the Premier League tree but manager Jose Mourinho does not want to give title rivals Manchester City any reason to cheer over the festive season. Check out the big games on Boxing Day.
Photos from the English Premier League matches played across England on Wednesday
London clubs' erratic start to the Premier League season improved with victories for Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal on Saturday but Manchester sides continued to make the running, with City and United the top two.
Manchester City tightened their stranglehold at the top of the Premier League on Wednesday by trouncing bottom club West Bromwich Albion 3-0 as nearest rivals Manchester United suffered a chastening 2-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.
Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal was more worried about playing Aston Villa than he feels about facing local rivals and champions Manchester City at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Sergio Aguero proved he is still vital to Manchester City's cause as the Argentine paved the way for a routine 2-0 victory at bottom club Sunderland on Sunday.
The Premier League's leading goalscorers will be on show at when surprise leaders Leicester City bid to move further ahead at the top with victory against Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday.
Manchester City moved back into third place and almost guaranteed Champions League qualification thanks to a 3-1 home victory against West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday at the Etihad Stadium.
IMAGES from the English Premier League match played between Arsenal and Chelsea at Emirates Stadium in London on Sunday.
Manchester City claimed the win required to finally end Liverpool's relentless attempt to dethrone them as Premier League champions as they hit back from a goal down to crush Brighton and Hove Albion on the south coast on Sunday.
Manuel Pellegrini shrugged that he was "not worried about Chelsea" despite seeing his Manchester City team fall further behind the Premier League leaders at the end of a dispiriting week for both the Chilean and his champions.
A round-up of Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Brighton & Hove Albion scored three times in the second half to fight back from two goals down and beat Manchester City
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Wednesday night.
Wenger's future at Arsenal will be decided after FA Cup final
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Wednesday
Manchester City made sure of third place in the Premier League when they romped to a 5-0 win at Watford on Sunday to ensure a Champions League berth for next season.
"The best team won, we struggled from the beginning and we couldn't deal with their long balls. Usually, you press the ball to win it, but this was different. They defended so deep and so well," City coach Pep Guardiola told the BBC.
City have 89 points, one more than rivals Liverpool, with both teams having three games to play -- and none of them against top six opponents.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Wednesday
Manchester United climbed to third place in their quest for a berth in next season's Champions League.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
United finished second last term, their best placing since the 2013 title win in Alex Ferguson's last season in charge, but the Red Devils were a massive 19 points behind champions Manchester City and never truly in contention.
ManchesterCity's hopes of regaining the Premier League title suffered a potentially grievous blow on Saturday as they were held to a goalless draw by struggling NorwichCity at Carrow Road.
European champions Liverpool are second in their Champions League group - a point behind Napoli - and Klopp's side host Genk at Anfield.
As Manchester City fans left Goodison Park after a 2-0 victory over Everton on Wednesday that sent their team back to the top of the Premier League, they aimed their chants across adjacent Stanley Park to title rivals Liverpool.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
A summary of Saturday's action in the Premier League.
Colombian super-sub Jhon Duran scored two late goals as Aston Villa salvaged a 3-3 home draw with Liverpool.
Barcelona lost for the second straight La Liga game in a 1-0 home reverse against Celta Vigo but there was no such trouble for Manchester City, who beat 10-man Manchester United 1-0 thanks to Sergio Aguero.
Germany expects 2.7 million people to attend matches in stadiums across the country and some 12 million in its fan zones for outdoor viewing, including on a long stretch of turf laid out in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.
Chelsea kept alive their remote Premier League title chances with a 2-0 win over London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, set on their way by an exquisite strike from Hakim Ziyech which was quickly followed up by a Thiago Silva header.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi produced moments of magic to earn victories for Real Madrid and Barcelona which kept Real 10 points clear at the top of La Liga on Sunday.
Queens Park Rangers bowed out of the Premier League with a whimper after Manchester City's Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick to lead his side to a crushing 6-0 victory over the London club on Sunday.
Chelsea landed a potentially decisive blow in the Premier League title race with a 2-1 win at Aston Villa on Saturday that put them seven points clear of Manchester City, who self-destructed in a 1-1 draw at home to Hull.
'Keep Calm And Carry On' could be Claudio Ranieri's motto for the second half of the season after Leicester City earned a 1-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday to put the heat back on Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Argentina have called up Mallorca's Spanish defender Pablo Maffeo for the first time ahead of this month's World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Brazil in the squad announced by its FA on Friday.
Three months after the last ball was kicked, the Premier League emerges from the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic this week for what will be a 92-match slog to the finish.
A Roberto Firmino hat-trick proved the highlight of Liverpool's 5-1 demolition of Arsenal as the Premier League leaders opened a nine-point gap over Tottenham Hotspur, who lost 3-1 to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
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