Premier League roundup: Leicester, Man United roll; Spurs leap Arsenal

We know the managers don’t love the schedule congestion in the Premier League, but after a day like Tuesday we’re thrilled to have a midweek like this.

Manchester United looked like the Red Devils of old, Leicester City continued its incredible run, Arsenal continued its tumultuous table run and Spurs looked ready to the bright lights.

Those were just four of the teams toiling on Tuesday.

Manchester United 3-0 Stoke City — RECAP

• Van Gaal praises “fantastic, team goals”
• WATCH: Martial finishes off slick set-up from Rooney, Mata

The combination of Anthony Martial and Wayne Rooney will receive a lot of the accolades, but Juan Mata put forth an all-world effort in orchestrating the other two members of his power trio. United scored first half goals at home for the first time in 11 matches, and Old Trafford was, at least for a day, the Theater of Dreams.

Leicester City 2-0 Liverpool — RECAP

• WATCH: Vardy’s stunning volley topples Reds

Jurgen Klopp won’t be pleased, but Jamie Vardy banged in a pair of goals to give the Foxes a three-point table lead heading into the weekend. England coach Roy Hodgson was in attendance, and it’s hard to imagine he isn’t salivating at the thought of in-form Vardy and Rooney in an attack with Raheem Sterling this summer in France.

“Apologies, normal-sized human, but it seems I have robbed you of a trio of points.” (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

Arsenal 0-0 Southampton — RECAP

• Koeman hails “magic” Forster in stonewalling of Arsenal
• Wenger slams Gunners’ finishing after wasteful day

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is understandably frustrated that his side couldn’t find the back of the goal, but he’ll watch the tape and realize Saints goalkeeper Fraser Forster was guilty of robbery on so many occasions that he’d get a life sentence from any sensible judge.

Sunderland 0-1 Manchester City — RECAP

Sergio Aguero scored early, and that’s all the league’s No. 2 team needed to advance past Sam Allardyce‘s side, as the big English manager slumped back in the dugout, wondering what his team will look like once the transfer buys hits the pitch together.

West Browmich Albion 1-1 Swansea City — RECAP

Opinion here, but Tony Pulis spent another afternoon robbing soccer fans of entertainment before Gylfi Sigurdsson broke through and put Swans up top. Baggies striker Salomon Rondon snared a point late, but West Brom was unconvincing again and sits just a trio of points above Swansea.

Norwich City 0-3 Tottenham Hotspur — RECAP

The Canaries could be in real trouble, but Spurs sure have made a lot of teams feel that way. Dele Alli scored, won a penalty for Harry Kane to convert, and then watched as Kane added a second goal as the North London side ran through Carrow Road with ease. Spurs now have the best goal differential in the Premier League (25).

West Ham United 2-0 Aston Villa — RECAP

Poor Remi Garde. We’re sure he’s a better manager than this, and Jordan Ayew‘s needless and vicious elbow had the last-place Villans down a man for most of this one. Dmitri Payet was again a string-puller for the Irons, who got goals from Michail Antonio and Cheikhou Kouyate.

Crystal Palace 1-2 Bournemouth — RECAP

Alan Pardew‘s Eagles are struggling, and now sit closer to the drop zone than the Top Four after coughing up an early lead provided by Scott Dann and Wilfried Zaha teaming up. Selhurst Park watched in horror as Marc Pugh dizzied the Palace ‘D’ for one goal and Benik Afobe buried his third in three games for the eventual match winner. That’s five-straight losses for Pardew’s Palace.

(Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images)

Standings

Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Home	Away	PTS
Leicester City	24	14	8	2	44	26	18	7-4-1	7-4-1	50
Manchester City	24	14	5	5	46	23	23	9-1-2	5-4-3	47
Tottenham Hotspur	24	12	9	3	44	19	25	6-4-2	6-5-1	45
Arsenal	24	13	6	5	37	22	15	7-3-2	6-3-3	45
Manchester United	24	11	7	6	31	21	10	6-4-2	5-3-4	40
West Ham United	24	10	9	5	38	28	10	5-5-2	5-4-3	39
Southampton	24	9	7	8	32	24	8	6-2-4	3-5-4	34
Liverpool	24	9	7	8	30	34	-4	4-4-3	5-3-5	34
Stoke City	24	9	6	9	24	28	-4	5-2-4	4-4-5	33
Watford	23	9	5	9	27	26	1	5-2-5	4-3-4	32
Crystal Palace	24	9	4	11	25	29	-4	4-2-7	5-2-4	31
Everton	23	6	11	6	40	34	6	3-4-5	3-7-1	29
West Bromwich Albion	24	7	8	9	23	31	-8	4-4-5	3-4-4	29
Chelsea	23	7	7	9	32	34	-2	4-4-4	3-3-5	28
Bournemouth	24	7	7	10	29	39	-10	3-4-4	4-3-6	28
Swansea City	24	6	8	10	23	32	-9	4-4-4	2-4-6	26
Norwich City	24	6	5	13	28	46	-18	4-3-5	2-2-8	23
Newcastle United	23	5	6	12	25	41	-16	3-5-4	2-1-8	21
Sunderland	24	5	4	15	28	47	-19	3-3-6	2-1-9	19
Aston Villa	24	2	7	15	18	40	-22	1-4-6	1-3-9	13

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