Nottingham Forest 0 – 2 Tottenham
Matt Turner continued between the posts for Forest but things didn’t go well as he twice had to pull the ball out of the back of his net, once on either side of the intermission. Richarlison struck in first-half stoppage time, while Dejan Kulusevski did likewise halfway through the second half.
Turner made a good leg save when Son Heung-min tried his luck from close range to deny the South Korean international. Kulusevski then picked out Brennan Johnson in the middle of the box and the Welshman made a very good stab at it, directing the ball towards the goal but again, the Jersey boy wearing the gloves made another fine save.
With a free kick in their own half, the ball was sent to the right wing to Kulusevski who got around his marker before putting across into the box. His Brazilian teammate, between two defenders, accelerated and got his head to it before Turner could get there.
For all his good play in the first half, Turner got sloppy in the second and was made to pay as he presented an early Christmas present to the Swedish attacker. The poor clearance found Kulusevski, who shot from inside the right of the box and drilled it at the American. Turner tried to punch it over the post but only managed to send it into his goal.
Forest are still six points out of the relegation zone but with the busy holiday period coming up, they may well find themselves there before the new year begins. They’ll get the festive season started on Saturday when mid-table Bournemouth comes to town.
Newcastle United 3 – 0 Fulham
Antonee Robinson was in the starting lineup and went the distance when the Cottagers headed to the frozen north to take on Newcastle United. Tim Ream is still sidelined through injury, so missed taking part in his side’s shut-out.
Fulham were going to struggle when after 22 minutes their Mexican international Raul Jiminez made a silly and dangerous tackle that warranted a straight red card.
After holding their hosts to a scoreless first half, Fulham conceded in the 57th minute. Bruno Guimaraes did all the hard work, getting himself into the box and then laid the ball off to Lewis Miley, for the 17-year-old to score his first-ever senior goal. Seven minutes later, Miguel Almiron was tapping the ball into an empty net to put the game to bed.
A third strike however came with less than 10 minutes left on the clock when defender Dan Burn scored for the second time this season.
Sitting in 11th place, FFC will next go up against cellar dwellers Burnley, who have only managed eight points after 17 games.
Chelsea 2 – 0 Sheffield United
Austin Trusty went the distance for Sheffield United but he could do nothing meaningful as the Blades concede twice and came away with nothing from their trip to London.
Sitting in 20th place and desperately needing some points to change their fortunes, it was not to be after putting in a decent first-half team performance where they kept the Blues out of their goal. It was the second half when the wheels fell off the Sheffield bus when the deadlock was eventually broken nine minutes into the second half. Cole Palmer strolled into the six-yard box, collected Raheem Sterling’s pass, and tucked it into the back of the net for his sixth league goal.
Less than ten minutes later it was all over when this time Palmer turned provider when he found Nicolas Jackson who finished from close range.
The Blades will be heading to Wolverhampton on Sunday afternoon to take on the 13th-place Wanderers at Molineux in the Midlands.
Manchester City 2 – 2 Crystal Palace
Chris Richards put in a full shift in what turned out to be an exciting game when the Premier League champion’s two-goal lead was thrown away late on thanks to a penalty conversion deep in stoppage time.
Citeh was cruising, going up one after just 24 minutes from Jack Grealish’s goal. The lead was doubled in the 54th by Rico Lewis and all seemed to be in order for the hosts but in the end that turned out not to be the case.
The fightback started in the 76th minute when Richards played a long ball from his own half and caught Citeh napping. Jeffrey Schlupp worked his way between a pair of defenders, nutmegged Ruben Dias with a pass to Jean-Phillippe Mateta who, is unmarked in the six-yard box, tapped it home.
In the 95th minute, Michael Olise scored from the spot after poor Citeh defending in the box led to the penalty.
With this gift of a point from the champions, Palace will host Brighton on Thursday night.
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