The Premier League returned to action on Tuesday night and there were big wins for both Swansea City and Liverpool, while West Ham were held by Crystal Palace. Here is what happened on an action-filled night:
Swansea recovered a potentially massive victory in the fight for survival at the Liberty Stadium, as it took the catapulted the Welsh side from the bottom of the table to out of the relegation zone.
The home side dominated the first half hour of this game. However, the visitors drew first blood. Mesut Ozil crossed to the far post and Nacho Monreal poked the ball home beyond Lukasz Fabianski.
The lead last just a few minutes, though. Centre-back Alfie Mawson stepped out of defence and played a superb ball through the centre of the Arsenal defence to midfielder Sam Clucas, who fired beyond the out coming Petr Cech.
Arsenal started the second period on the front foot. However, the Gunners gifted the Swans the lead just after the hour mark. Shkodran Mustafi’s played a poor back pass to Cech, who cleared the ball straight to the feet of Jordan Ayew, who had the simple task of rolling the ball into the net. The home side sealed the victory with four minutes left on the clock. Ayew again ran at Mustafi, only for the defender to tackle the forward and Clucas to collect the rebound and fire home.
The victory is potentially massive for the home side. The Swans are only outside the relegation zone on goal difference. However, it is a start to a team who were previously written off. Arsenal are now a massive eight points behind fourth-placed Liverpool in the race for the Champions League spots.
Liverpool bounced back from consecutive defeats to record a very comfortable victory over struggling Huddersfield at the John Smiths Stadium.
The Merseysiders took the lead on 26 minutes. Christopher Schindler cleared Andrew Robertson’s cross only for the ball to fall to Emre Can, who volleyed home via a deflection off Town midfielder Philip Billing. The visitors doubled their lead in first-half stoppage-time. Sadio Mane produced a brilliant flick to put Roberto Firmino in on the left side of the area and the Brazilian forward managed to squeeze the ball past Jonas Lossl at his near post.
Liverpool dominated for long periods of the second half and the third goal arrived on 78 minutes. Billing brought down Can in the penalty area and Mohamed Salah made no mistake from the spot to confirm maximum points for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
The win consolidated the Reds position in the top-four and the visitors are one of the favourites to seal a Champions League spot for next season. At the other end of the table, Huddersfield are just one point above the drop zone after a terrible run of form.
Two teams just above the relegation zone, West Ham and Crystal Palace played out a tight draw at the London Stadium.
The visitors took the lead on 24 minutes. Winger Andros Townsend produced a pinpoint cross to Christian Benteke at the far post and the striker headed home from close-range. However, the home were level just before the break. James Tomkins upended Javier Hernandez in the Eagles penalty area and Irons captain Mark Noble kept his cool to fire home with the spot kick.
The point moved the home side into the top half of the table. However, such is the congested nature of the bottom half, David Moyes side are just four points clear of the relegation zone. Palace are 12th place and just three points above the drop zone.
Who recorded the most important Premier League win on Tuesday night?