Manchester City, Liverpool both win as Arsenal end Man Utd unbeaten run

By Paul Giblin

LONDON, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola looked a worried man as his side took to the pitch for the second half of their Premier League game at home to Watford on Saturday.

With the score still 0-0, there was a chance that an opportunity to put pressure on Liverpool was going to escape Guardiola's side, but he needn't have worried.

A minute after the kick-off of the second period, it was 1-0 as Raheem Sterling opened the scoring for City with the first of three goals the England forward netted in a frantic 13 minute spell to ensure his side remain top of the league.

The opening goal was probably offside, but with no VAR in England until next season, the goal stood and City took three vital points.

Two goals each from Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane helped Liverpool come back from conceding an early goal to Burnley to claim a 4-2 win, which keeps them in touch at the top of the table.

Ashley Westwood scored for the visitors in the sixth minute, but two strikes from Firmino and one from Mane took Liverpool 3-1 ahead until Johann Berg and Mane's second of the game established the final 4-2 scoreline.

The absence of the VAR also helped Harry Kane open the scoring for Tottenham away to Southampton with a goal which looked to be offside, but it was not to be a happy return to St Mary's for Spurs' boss Mauricio Pochettino, who had to watch from the stands as two goals in the last 14 minutes turned the game on its head.

While Southampton have three vital points in their battle to avoid the drop, thanks to goals from Yann Valery and an excellent free kick from James Ward Prouse, Tottenham have taken just one point from 12 to leave Pochettino questioning the mentality of some of his players.

Arsenal ended Manchester United's unbeaten domestic run under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on Sunday and took a big step towards sealing a place in next season's Champions League after a 2-0 win.

David de Gea misjudged Granit Xhaka's 12th minute shot which swerved in the air but not enough to deceive the keeper, and although United hit the woodwork twice and dominated the second half, they were hit by a sucker punch when Fred was penalized for a possible push in Alexandre Lacazette for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to seal the win from the penalty spot.

Eden Hazard netted an injury time winner to salvage Chelsea a point at home to Wolves, who were just a minute away from doing the double over Mauricio Sarri's side thanks to a 56th minute goal from Raul Jimenez, which was the Mexican's 12th league goal of the season.

Jamie Vardy scored twice to reach the 100 goal milestone for Leicester City to help his side to a 3-1 win at home to Fulham on Brenden Rodgers' home debut as Leicester coach.

Leicester looked improved under their new coach, while Fulham slipped to another defeat and can definitively start planning for a return to the Championship next season.

Brighton won 2-1 away to Crystal Palace to take a giant step towards assuring their Premier League survival, while Ayoze Perez netted two late goals as Newcastle came back from 2-0 down at home to Everton to also move within touching distance of safety.

Cardiff City also got back to winning way, scoring twice and keeping a clean sheet against West Ham to end a run of three consecutive defeats.

Finally, Callum Wilson came back from injury and opened the scoring as Bournemouth won 2-0 away to bottom of the table Huddersfield. It was Bournemouth's first away win after nine away defeats and that says all you need to know about a hapless Huddersfield.