City back on top; Newcastle replace Sunderland in relegation after Palace thrashing
Steve McClaren’s difficult week ended in a 5-1 thrashing at Crystal Palace as Newcastle dropped into the Barclays Premier League relegation zone.
There were angry words on the Newcastle training ground this week following the 3-0 home defeat to Leicester, but it looked as if they had cleared the air when Papiss Cisse’s first goal since the opening day of the season gave the visitors a 10th-minute lead.
But Newcastle boss McClaren could only look on in horror as Palace were 3-1 ahead by half-time with James McArthur (14), Yannick Bolasie (17) and Wilfried Zaha (41) putting the Eagles on their way to only a second win in six league games.
Bolasie punished more defensive slackness to volley home his second within two minutes of the restart and McArthur also scored his second late on as Eagles boss Alan Pardew savoured victory over his old club.
Sunderland moved above their local rivals and out of the bottom three with a 2-0 defeat of Stoke, the second successive win for Sam Allardyce’s Black Cats.
Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross was sent off for a second bookable offence after 47 minutes but Sunderland had to wait to break the deadlock.
Patrick van Aanholt lashed them ahead after 82 minutes and Duncan Watmore latched on to a defensive error two minutes later to settle matters.
Bournemouth also moved above Newcastle on goal difference after battling back to claim a point in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Everton at the Vitality Stadium.
Argentina defender Ramiro Funes Mori netted Everton’s first set-piece goal of the season and Romelu Lukaku’s 12th of the campaign gave Everton a 2-0 half-time lead.
But Adam Smith (80) and Junior Stanislas (87) levelled in a dramatic finale before Ross Barkley put Everton back ahead deep into stoppage time.
Stanislas, however, rescued a point for the Cherries with virtually the last touch of the match in the eighth minute of injury time.
Bottom club Aston Villa’s misery continued as they lost 3-2 at home to Watford.
Villa were without Jack Grealish, who had been dropped after enjoying a night out in the wake of the 4-0 defeat at Everton last weekend, and Odion Ighalo fired Watford into a 17th-minute lead.
Micah Richards’ first Villa goal, a powerful header four minutes before the break, restored parity and Watford lost goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes to injury after the break.
But Villa defender Alan Hutton prodded into his own net and Troy Deeney added another to make Jordan Ayew’s late effort irrelevant.
Manchester City returned to the summit with a 3-1 victory over Southampton at the Etihad Stadium.
City took advantage of the late kick-off between Leicester and Manchester United to reclaim the top spot they lost last week, even if it was only for a few hours.
England goalkeeper Joe Hart was missing with a hamstring injury sustained in the Champions League defeat at Juventus, but City were ahead when Raheem Sterling set up Kevin de Bruyne for a ninth-minute tap-in.
Fabian Delph doubled the advantage with a deflected 20th-minute shot, his first City goal since leaving Aston Villa in an £8million move last summer.
Southampton halved the deficit when Shane Long headed home Sadio Mane’s cross soon after the interval and City’s anxiety grew when star striker Sergio Aguero limped off midway through the second half.
But Aleksandar Kolarov fired home City’s third after 69 minutes to secure the three points.
