Summary

  • FT: Sheffield Utd 0-1 Everton - Sigurdsson puts Toffees second and keeps Blades bottom on two points

  • FT: Man City 2-0 Newcastle - City up to fifth after Gundogan & Torres goals

  • FT: Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea - Lacazette Xhaka & Saka give Gunners first league win since 1 November

  • Abraham pulls one back and Jorginho misses penalty

  • FT: Aston Villa 3-0 Crystal Palace - Traore Hause & El Ghazi for Villa, who have Mings sent off

  • FT: Fulham 0-0 Southampton - Saints miss chance to go third

  • FT: Leicester City 2-2 Man Utd - Foxes stay second after Vardy's deflected equaliser

  1. get involved

    Get Involvedpublished at 18:32 Greenwich Mean Time 26 December 2020

    #bbcfootball or text 81111 (UK only)

    Ben Matthews: Chelsea shockingly poor, midfield totally AWOL, can't keep ball more than two or three passes, second to everything and mostly resorting to hoofball. Lampard is clueless.

    Benjamin: Remember when Klopp said Chelsea were title contenders? It's been a slippery slope from then

    Sho: Chelsea absolutely atrocious that first half, they need Giroud on asap. Someone to hold the ball up for them

  2. KICK-OFFpublished at 45 mins

    Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea

    Big call to take Werner off. Probably the right one though. And we play on!

  3. SUBSTITUTIONSpublished at 18:32 Greenwich Mean Time 26 December 2020

    Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea

    Two changes at the break for Chelsea in fact. Jorginho and Callum Hudson-Odoi are on for Mateo Kovacic and Timo Werner.

  4. get involved

    Get Involvedpublished at 18:29 Greenwich Mean Time 26 December 2020

    #bbcfootball or text 81111 (UK only)

    Xhaka is Arsenal's most underrated player. The fans complain about players who don't care - he is a lad who gives his all for the club. Week in. Week out.

    Billy Greedham in Hammersmith

    Love the desire from Arsenal. Hope I won't get to hear "game of two halves" later in MOTD! Come on Arsenal finish this off!

    Sak in Cambridge

  5. Postpublished at 18:28 Greenwich Mean Time 26 December 2020

    Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea

    Here come the Chelsea lot. On the end of a Lampard blast punctuated with a few jokes?

    Jorginho is coming on.

  6. 'To a man we were very good'published at 18:27 Greenwich Mean Time 26 December 2020

    Aston Villa 3-0 Crystal Palace

    Aston Villa

    Aston Villa manager Dean Smith tells BBC Sport: "It was a tremendous performance. Going down to 10 men, I thought our counter-attacking looked scary at times.

    "We have got away with Emi [Martinez] making a very good save at the start then we broke and scored a good first goal. I thought we defended very well and got the balance right between defence and attack. Our defence was excellent, our goalkeeper was excellent and to a man we were very good.

    "I said to the players at half time 'there's no-one I want other than Ollie Watkins to play on his own up front with 10 men'. He was superb. He gave central defenders problems, his movement was really good and there's more to come from him. He has hit the post and the bar and done everything but score and the lads are really pleased with him."

    On the sending off of Tyrone Mings, who was booked twice in quick succession in the first half, Smith added: "I thought the first yellow was pathetic. Tyrone is stopping himself getting attacked and gets a yellow - it was two very soft yellow cards."

  7. 'Happy for the point'published at 18:26 Greenwich Mean Time 26 December 2020

    FT: Fulham 0-0 Southampton

    Southampton

    Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl: “I think we had bigger chances than the opponent and scored two (disallowed) goals – the second one was fantastic play, so a little bit unlucky.

    “We had a big chance in the first half after the free-kick from Prowsey [James Ward-Prowse], when Che [Adams] had a big chance to score.“I saw one handball in the box that I think can be a penalty, but in the end to take a point here is not so bad. It’s tough here – the pitch is tight, they put on a lot of pressure and if you concede a goal you have nearly no chance to come back, so the clean sheet was the most important thing today.“You could always see that the opponent was dangerous but we defended well, especially around the box. There were some defending scenes I remember when we had to come behind the ball to block shots, especially in overtime when Jack [Stephens] blocked a shot that was important.“After the changes we had in the team, it was important that the new players coming in showed up immediately, so that was good. I’m happy for the point for the guys."

  8. Postpublished at 18:20 Greenwich Mean Time 26 December 2020

    Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea

    That little Swiss beauty was Arsenal's first goal from a direct free-kick against Chelsea in the Premier League since Thierry Henry in December 2004.

    Was that one he took quickly?

    Alexandre LacazetteImage source, Getty Images
  9. 'We did the half-time meeting through a computer'published at 18:18 Greenwich Mean Time 26 December 2020

    FT: Fulham 0-0 Southampton

    Fulham

    Fulham assistant boss Stuart Gray: “We’re a little disappointed. You can tell by their reaction that they were happy to get the point. We got into some very good areas. The final ball let us down at times but that’s now four games unbeaten in the Premier League which is very difficult to do.

    “We’re playing against a very good side today in what they do. The pressure and closure they bring, we worked on it all week, we knew five or six would come to close down.

    "Credit to our boys for being brave on the ball and we worked the ball into good areas. The final piece of the jigsaw is to put the ball in the net. I’m a glass-half-full guy, and four games unbeaten compared to the start of the season says we’re going in the right direction.

    "The work rate they put in has been outstanding. We did a meeting at half-time through a computer, he [Scott Parker] was making the decisions with subs and strategy, but credit to the lads who knew their game plan. They’re seeing it more as two points lost.”

  10. 'Every point we take is important for us'published at 18:18 Greenwich Mean Time 26 December 2020

    Fulham 0-0 Southampton

    Southampton

    Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl tells BBC Sport: "We're not unhappy with a point. At times we had the bigger chances, we had two goals disallowed, quite close for offside, but in the end to take a point, we take it.

    "A clean sheet after the three changes and it was important for our defence to show our stability again - Oriol [Romeu], Jannik [Vestergaard] and Ingsy [Danny Ings] are the centre of our game.

    "Fulham are aggressive, good organised, it's a very tight pitch, a bit smaller than a normal pitch but we did a good job with good game management. Maybe the final decision was not always there but I can live with this.

    "Every point we take is important for us. We're not looking at the Champions League, we're looking for taking points and every point we get is good for us."

  11. Postpublished at 18:18 Greenwich Mean Time 26 December 2020

    As we all try and take in that Granit Xhaka goal here's some reaction from the 3pm matches...

  12. get involved

    Get Involvedpublished at 18:16 Greenwich Mean Time 26 December 2020

    #bbcfootball or text 81111 (UK only)

    Dennis Ethan: Wow What a Goal by Xhaka. Top drawer free kick 2-0 to the ARSENAL

    Aviation Fan: Well Xhaka has just shut us all up. What a hit. His excellent defence splitting pass in the build-up for the penalty as well by the way.

  13. HALF-TIMEpublished at 18:16 Greenwich Mean Time 26 December 2020

    Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea

    Huge half for Arsenal.

  14. Postpublished at 45+1 mins

    Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea

    Chelsea all over the shop...

  15. goal

    GOAL - Arsenal 2-0 Chelseapublished at 18:14 Greenwich Mean Time 26 December 2020

    Granit Xhaka (44 mins)

    Pick that one out! Granit Xhaka has his first of the season and it's potentially massive too.

    What a strike. Xhaka lines up a free-kick from about 22 yards, whips it over the wall and down again and past Edouard Mendy in a flash.

    The keeper may have got a slight touch on that but it was cannoned into the back of the net.

    Granit XhakaImage source, Reuters
  16. get involved

    Get Involvedpublished at 18:14 Greenwich Mean Time 26 December 2020

    #bbcfootball or text 81111 (UK only)

    Chelsea are playing with no intensity, they are being outfought and outrun by Arsenal who look the hungrier team who want it more. A lot of these Chelsea players look like they have been eating to much Christmas dinner.

    Keith in London

    If Chelsea can't beat this Arsenal side then they can forget any title challenge

    Gareth in Bridgend

  17. Postpublished at 42 mins

    Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea

    Half a sighter for Timo Werner and he takes it like a man short on confidence. The ball comes to him on the left of the area, he works it on to his right foot and flashes it well wide.

  18. Postpublished at 40 mins

    Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea

    Very scrappy out there at the moment. Mikel Arteta loudly applauds as Arsenal stop Mateo Kovacic from playing his way out of midfield.

  19. Postpublished at 38 mins

    Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea

    Arsenal have scored their first penalty against Chelsea in the Premier League since May 2007 (Gilberto Silva).

    You can add him to the list of players they have never replaced.

  20. Postpublished at 35 mins

    Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea

    What can Chelsea do to react then? Timo Werner wastes a good counter by slamming a pass into Tammy Abraham's heels. No chance of controlling that one.