All of the traditional ‘top six’ failed to win this weekend, throwing the Premier League table wide open as a result in what is shaping up to be one of the closest seasons in recent memory.
The biggest match of the weekend was easily the most disappointing, as Manchester United and Manchester City played out a 0-0 draw in the Manchester derby.
Neither side showed any signs of title contenders as David De Gea and Ederson were almost completely untroubled in their respective goals, in one of the most boring football matches so far this season.
Just two shots on target for either side summed up the match, with the draw leaving United in eight place and City in ninth.
Spurs also dropped points this week, drawing 1-1 with Crystal Palace.
Harry Kane put Jose Mourinho’s side ahead and took his goal tally to nine in the league for the season, but Jeffery Schlupp pounced after some poor Tottenham goalkeeping to ensure the points were shared in London.
Liverpool joined the other big clubs in failing to win, drawing 1-1 with Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Bobby Cordova-Reid netted early on for Fulham, and they looked like seeing the result through until handball by substitute Aboubakar Kamara gifted Liverpool a penalty.
Mohamed Salah just about squeezed his shot under Alphonse Areola as his side salvaged a point despite their poor performance.
Southampton capitalised on the draw between United and City to put distance between them and the two Manchester clubs after they beat Sheffield United 3-0.
Che Adams, Stuart Armstrong and Nathan Redmond all scored for the Saints as they thrashed the bottom side, who in turn are still yet to win or keep a clean sheet this season.
The win briefly put Southampton into third, until Leicester picked up all three points against Brighton in a 3-0 triumph.
James Maddison scored either side of a Jamie Vardy goal to ensure the Foxes had all three points wrapped up by half time, as they leapfrogged Southampton into third place.
Another one of the weekends more exciting ties, at least on paper, also seemed to disappoint a little as Everton upset Chelsea with a 1-0 victory.
2,000 returning fans saw Gylfi Sigurdsson score his second goal of the season, this time from the penalty spot after Edouard Mendy brought down Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Chelsea hit the post twice in the second half, but the Toffees held on to pick up their second win in their last six league games.
Burnley secured their first ever win at the Emirates Stadium when they shocked Arsenal in a 1-0 win.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang finally scored for the Gunners this season, albeit in the wrong net as they fell to yet another Premier League defeat.
In the other derby this weekend, Aston Villa beat Wolves 1-0 thanks to a 94th minute penalty from Anwar El Ghazi.
In a slightly more entertaining affair, both sides were reduced to ten men late on as Douglas Luiz was dismissed for a second bookable offence, which was followed by Joao Moutinho’s second yellow card just ten minutes later.
West Brom were outdone by two of their former players against Newcastle United, as they were defeated 2-1 by the Magpies.
Miguel Almiron gave Newcastle the lead after 20 seconds, but they were pegged back in the second half by Darnell Furlong, who scored his second goal in as many games.
Jacob Murphy and Dwight Gayle have both spent time on loan at West Brom, and the pair combined in the 81stminute against their former club to hand all three points to the home side.
Finally on Friday night, West Ham beat Leeds 2-1 at Elland Road to momentarily move into fifth place and just a point away from the top four.
Mateusz Klich scored from the penalty spot after just six minutes, but Tomas Soucek and Angelo Ogbonna netted as the Hammers came from behind to win.
By Ali Pollock
