1. Marcos Rojo escapes severe punishment as Man United edge to win
Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew felt Marcos Rojo deserved to be sent off for his two-footed tackle during Manchester United’s win on Wednesday.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted an 88th-minute winner as United trumped Palace in a match overshadowed by controversy.
Rojo’s lunge on Wilfried Zaha was among the contentious incidents, with the United defender only booked, having also been fortunate to be yellow carded for a similar challenge on Everton’s Idrissa Gueye almost a fortnight ago.
Reflecting on the tackle, Pardew said: “From the sideline it did look bad.
“He jumps two footed and we’ve been to all these meetings where that’s a red card.”
2. Landmark night for Chelsea’s unsung hero
Cesar Azpilicueta made his 200th Chelsea appearance on Wednesday night as the Blues earned a hard-fought win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
The defender, who signed a new three-and-a-half-year deal at the club on Tuesday keeping him at Stamford Bridge until 2020, has been a huge success since joining from Marseille in 2012.
Azpilicueta has had to adapt to a central role this season, as part of Antonio Conte’s back three, but has flourished with the Blues currently topping the Premier League table.
Coach Antonio Conte has recently described the 27-year-old as a bargain for the Blues secured a 10th consecutive Premier League win against the division’s bottom side.
3. Klopp admits the lack of European football gives Liverpool an advantage over their rivals
Jurgen Klopp says juggling domestic and European fixtures is a huge challenge for his rival coaches as the German seeks to mount a Premier League title challenge with a Liverpool team unburdened by involvement in UEFA competition.
Liverpool reached the final of the Europa League in May, going down 3-1 to Sevilla, but failed to qualify for continental action in 2016-17, having finished eighth in the league.
Speaking to Spox.com, Klopp emphasised the difficulties presented by regular midweek matches and associated travel.
“It’s a difference like day and night,” he said. “Even though we’d love to play in Europe, it’s also an advantage for us.
“Those are effectively two different jobs when you can train all season and have to cope with a lot of matches, also European ones, [like] the previous season. You need to have done the one job to be ready for the other.”
4. Man City finally get a home win
Pablo Zabaleta was relieved to see Manchester CIty return to form with a 2-0 victory over Watford.
The defender scored his first Premier League goal for more than two years in the first half on Wednesday and David Silva sealed victory late on.
City’s first win in three league games keeps them in fourth place and within seven points of leaders Chelsea ahead of Sunday’s crunch clash at home to title rivals Arsenal.
It was also their first home win in the league since September, with Zabaleta glad to give the Etihad Stadium support a victory after four top-flight matches without one.
“It has been a long time without a win playing at home – it has been strange,” he said.
“It was not the prettiest game but we had determination to win the game. We had the clean sheet we have been talking about and were solid defensively.
“We were really good at the back and we took our chances. We deserved to win.”
5. Spurs rack up 30 passes in build-up to Eriksen strike
Tottenham were at their fluent best in opening the scoring during Wednesday’s Premier League showdown with Hull City, stringing together 30 passes before Christian Eriksen provided the finishing touch.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men have a reputation for playing an attractive style of possession-based football and underlined that fact with a move that swept across the field and ended with an emphatic finish at White Hart Lane.
While the killer touch came from the in-form Eriksen for his fourth league goal in as many games, a number of his team-mates were involved in the build-up and Danny Rose teed him up with a cool-headed assist in the 14th minute.
The total tally of passes was the highest number leading to a Premier League goal this season.
