Chelsea ripped apart Premier League title rivals Arsenal in a 6-0 mauling at Stamford Bridge on Saturday to ensure Arsene Wenger's 1,000th game turned sour and Liverpool and Manchester City kept up the pressure with big wins.
Leaders Manchester City kept up their unbeaten run with a 3-1 win over Bournemouth on Saturday. Manchester United salvaged a 2-2 draw at Southampton, who sacked manager Mark Hughes on Monday.
Manchester City's stellar season gathered yet more momentum as the runaway English Premier League leaders reached the League Cup semi-finals with a penalty shootout victory at Leicester City.
Under-pressure Everton manager Roberto Martinez enjoyed some respite as his struggling side won for the first time in eight league matches.
Liverpool and champions Manchester City drew 0-0 at Anfield while Chelsea and Arsenal enjoyed comfortable away wins. City are top on goal difference from Liverpool and Chelsea with Arsenal two points behind.
Mesut Ozil guided Arsenal to a 2-0 victory over Napoli while a late Cesc Fabregas header gave Barcelona a laboured 1-0 win at 10-man Celtic in the Champions League on Tuesday.
A summary of Thursday's matches in Europe's second tier club football tournament
Lionel Messi marked his first start after injury with a goal in Barcelona's 1-1 draw at AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday while Fernando Torres got two as Chelsea thumped Schalke and Atletico Madrid's charge continued.
England players Wayne Rooney, Phil Jones and Glen Johnson have withdrawn from the squad for the country's World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine through injury, the FA said on Sunday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday
Arsenal will begin their quest to become the first team in modern times to win the FA Cup three years running with a home tie against fellow Premier League side Sunderland in January.
Football world has been left so shocked by the news of the serious illness to Alex Ferguson
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger spoke last week of his desire to keep the 24-year-old Oxlade-Chamberlain, who was also a target for champions Chelsea.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Premier League champions Chelsea eased past a disappointing Everton with goals from Spaniards Cesc Fabregas and Alvaro Morata sealing a 2-0 victory on Sunday.
Fourth-tier Newport County stunned former FA Cup winners Leeds United with a last-gasp 2-1 win in the third round to spark a joyous pitch invasion at their Rodney Parade ground on Sunday.
This and more from the happenings in the world of football
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played across Europe on Wednesday
Alex Ferguson famously described the Premier League title run-in as 'squeaky-bum time' and leaders Leicester City and second-placed Tottenham Hotspur look best-placed to handle the pressure.
Out-of-sorts Chelsea have a golden opportunity to restore battered self-confidence when they face Maccabi Tel Aviv in their opening Champions League Group G match.
Leicester City will be wary of a reality check when the Premier League front-runners visit Arsenal on Sunday before Tottenham Hotspur's burgeoning title ambitions come under scrutiny at Manchester City.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Irresistible Chelsea go into the Christmas round of fixtures knowing they can end the year by re-writing the record books.
Antonio Conte brushed aside the praise being heaped upon him and his high-flying Chelsea team on Friday, adamant that he would not let the plaudits distract them in their surge towards the English Premier League title.
Anthony Martial and Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice each to help Manchester United ease into the League Cup semi-finals with a 4-1 home victory over West Ham United on Wednesday as Arsenal suffered a 2-0 home defeat by Southampton. Martial netted twice in the second half to take the tie at Old Trafford away from West Ham, who had levelled through Ashley Fletcher following Ibrahimovic's opener after two minutes. The Swede added the fourth deep into stoppage-time.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
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.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday
With less than a month of the Premier League season left it remains Chelsea's title to lose but Tottenham Hotspur defiantly stayed in contention by grinding out a 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace on Wednesday.
Images from the EPL matches played on Saturday
Match-by-match facts and statistics ahead of the Premier League
The ATP issued the latest men's tennis rankings on Monday and the top 10 list remains unchanged with Serbian tennis ace Novak Djokovic still leading the rankings.
Chelsea ticked off three more points in their Premier League title quest with a 2-1 victory over Manchester City on Wednesday but Tottenham Hotspur's Houdini-like 3-1 win at Swansea means the race is far from over.
Manchester City had to battle back from behind to earn a 1-1 draw against Premier League newcomers Wolverhampton Wanderers who gave the champions a real test at Molineux on Saturday.
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.
Chelsea have been accused of being boring but they will not mind one bit if they beat Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge on Sunday to win the Premier League title for the first time in five years.
The Premier League bursts back into life after the international break.
Rediff.com brings a preview of the main matches coming up this weekend in the English Premier League.
