Tuesday 17 January 2017 06:23, UK
Who were the best Premier League players from the weekend games? We take a look at the man-of-the-match performances in our hotlist.
Chelsea ended the weekend with a seven-point lead at the top of the Premier League after a 3-0 victory away at Leicester, while a Harry Kane-inspired Tottenham moved up to second with a thumping 4-0 win at home to West Brom.
Arsenal bounced back from their troubles away from home in the league, hitting four past Swansea at the Liberty Stadium, but Manchester City saw their title charge falter at Everton with a shock 4-0 defeat.
And Manchester United and Liverpool also dropped points after playing out a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.
But which players starred in particular? Read on to remind yourself of the standout displays - and let us know who you think deserves the plaudits by leaving a comment or tweeting us @SkyFootball...
Harry Kane (TOTTENHAM 4-0 West Brom)
Kane became a father last weekend and capped a wonderful week in style, scoring a hat-trick as Tottenham steamrolled West Brom at White Hart Lane.
His goals ensured he became the fastest Spurs striker to 60 in the Premier League, doing so in 99 appearances, and all three showcased his unerring ability inside the box.
He really is a master finisher and it’s no surprise just four of his 62 league strikes have come outside the penalty area.
West Brom gave him far too much space on the day and he took full advantage.
Ben Mee (BURNLEY 1-0 Southampton)
Ben Mee put in a superb defensive performance to help earn Burnley only their fifth clean sheet of the season.
He kept the dangerous Shane Long quiet and cleared a Dusan Tadic shot off the line in a goalless first half.
Mee also threatened from set pieces at the other end, heading wide from a corner and then sending a half-volley just the wrong side of the near post.
Abel Hernandez (HULL 3-1 Bournemouth)
It’s been a dream two weeks for Abel Hernandez. Firstly, he returned to action after recovering from a hamstring injury suffered in early November, before he netted the first goal in the 2-0 FA Cup victory over Swansea last weekend. And today he capped it all as his brace helped fire the Tigers to their first league victory in 10 games.
The first, from Andrew Robertson’s whipped cross, saw him get the better of both Tyrone Mings and Artur Boruc; perhaps it was the outswinger that confused the 'keeper, but take nothing away from Hernandez, it was a great connection on a difficult ball. The Uruguayan’s second was an individual effort in which he cut in from the right and dispatched a shot with his left; the goal that finally saw Hull gain the advantage in the game.
His return is perfectly timed as Marco Silva looks to save Hull from the drop, but he will face competition in attack from new-boy Oumar Niasse in the coming weeks. However, if he plays like he did on Saturday, then he should have no problem.
Marko Arnautovic (Sunderland 1-3 STOKE)
Arnautovic’s two goals in the space of seven first-half minutes for Stoke set the tone of the match with a dominant display on the left-hand side of the pitch, exposing the gaps left behind by Sunderland’s three-man defence to put in a very strong performance.
The Austria international almost completed a hat-trick in the second half, and his combination play with Shaqiri was encapsulated by Stoke’s second goal of the match.
Laurent Koscielny (Swansea 0-4 ARSENAL)
Much of the plaudits will be directed towards the Arsenal attacking duo of Alex Iwobi and Alexis Sanchez, who were both outstanding, but without the rock solid influence of the Gunners skipper, Swansea may have got a foothold in the game.
For large parts of the opening 40 minutes, Swansea played at a ferocious tempo and buzzed all over the Arsenal back-four. Every time Nacho Monreal and Shkodran Mustafi were caught in possession, Koscielny was there to make a last-ditch tackle or snuff out the danger. He didn’t put a foot wrong in the 90 minutes.
This was Arsenal’s seventh clean sheet of the season - only Chelsea, Tottenham, Man Utd have kept more - and with Koscielny in such dominant mood, there will be many more to come before the season is out.
Victor Valdes (Watford 0-0 MIDDLESBROUGH)
In a game of few chances, Valdes ensured Boro left Vicarage Road with a point in what was an emotionally-charged match following the death of Graham Taylor.
The Boro ‘keeper handed himself the perfect birthday present with a clean sheet, preserved thanks to late save which denied Troy Deeney a sure-fire winner.
Tom Cleverley deserves a mention for his 13-minute cameo, and had his assist for Deeney - or his own chance which hit the post - paid off, then the award would have gone to the Everton loanee.
Michail Antonio (WEST HAM 3-0 Crystal Palace)
Antonio may not have taken the headlines on Saturday – Andy Carroll’s overhead kick the starring moment – but he was a driving force behind the Hammers attack as they look towards life without Dimitri Payet.
He assisted each of West Ham’s three goals for his team-mates and continued to show the work-rate and desire to win that Slaven Bilic is looking for from his players as they continue to pull away from the drop zone.
He has now been directly involved in more Premier League goals than any other West Ham player this season (11- 8 goals and three assists) and if he continues in this vein, the Hammers will have no trouble it further climbing the table in the coming weeks.
Marcos Alonso (Leicester 0-3 CHELSEA)
All the talk was about how Chelsea would cope without top goalscorer Diego Costa at the King Power Stadium, but cope they did and it was the surprise name of Alonso that popped up with goals that helped Chelsea to all three points.
The Spanish full-back, who was a constant menace on the left flank, produced an excellent finish in the sixth minute to send the Blues on their way and he doubled the advantage six minutes after the break when his shot from the edge of the area beat Kasper Schmeichel with the help of a couple of deflections.
He almost grabbed an unlikely hat-trick when volleying Victor Moses' cross inches wide but his superb performance was epitomised when he tracked back a long way to cut out Jamie Vardy's pass for Ahmed Musa. An outstanding display in both defence and attack from the 26-year-old.
Tom Davies (EVERTON 4-0 Man City)
It was a great Sunday afternoon for Everton and an even better one for 18-year-old academy graduate Davies who netted his maiden goal for the first team as his side thrashed Man City 4-0, live on Sky Sports.
Aside from his goal which was thankfully unclaimed by Romelu Lukaku, he was a constant menace in the middle of the park as he intercepted loose passes from a lacklustre City side on a number of occasions and sparked attacks with his pace.
New signing Morgan Schneiderlin will surely be watching on with interest as Davies continues to flourish in a position he is targeting, with performances like the one at the weekend surely to keep him in the frame for a while yet.
Dejan Lovren (Manchester United 1-1 LIVERPOOL)
Jose Mourinho – perhaps cheekily – praised Liverpool’s defensive performance at Old Trafford, with maybe having one eye on the criticism he received for his team’s tactics at the 0-0 at Anfield. We’ll call it a backhanded compliment.
That said, Lovren put in one his best performances in a Liverpool shirt to keep Zlatan Ibrahimovic quiet for large parts of the draw. The Liverpool defender won 89 per cent of his aerial battles, made nine clearances and four crucial blocks inside the area. He also provided a threat in the opposition area, playing a huge role in forcing Paul Pogba to handle the ball inside the area from which James Milner opened the scoring.
