🦁 Aston Villa up to third after beating Man City; McTominay downs Chelsea | OneFootball

We had a little midweek treat on Wednesday with six Premier League fixtures to sink our teeth into.

Here’s what went down.

City go four without a win

Scorers: Bailey 74′.

Leon Bailey’s second-half winner earned an energetic Aston Villa side a deserved win over Manchester City as the champions fell to a fourth game without a win.

The hosts started the game at a frenetic speed with Bailey tested from Ederson from outside of the box and Pau Torres going close.

City struggled to break away as Villa penned them back in their own half but will be wondering how Emi Martínez denied Erling Haaland midway through the first half.

The Argentine goalkeeper pulled off a stunning double-save in quick succession to keep out the Norwegian in City’s best attempts of the first half.

Villa kept on top of the visitors at the start of the second half and came close through John McGinn who wriggled into the box before flashing a shot wide at the far post.

The breakthrough finally came 16 minutes from time courtesy of some great work from Bailey who picked up the ball 40 yards out, drove towards the edge of the box before seeing his shot deflect off Ruben Días before landing in the top corner.

Unai Emery’s side jump above City into third place and are now only four points off league leaders Arsenal, who they face on Saturday.

McTominay downs Chelsea

Scorers: McTominay 19′, 70′; Palmer 45′.

Scottt McTominay scored twice as a much-improved Manchester United side saw off Chelsea to break into the top six.

Erik ten Hag dropped Marcus Rashford to the bench pre-match and his side had a golden opportunity to shake off the current malaise inside the opening 10 minutes when they were awarded a penalty after Enzo Fernandez had fouled Antony.

Bruno Fernandes stepped up but saw his tame effort from 12 yards from Robert Sanchez.

United kept up the early pressure and it eventually told when McTominay poked home from nine yards out following a goalmouth scramble.

Chelsea got back into the game just before the break as Cole Palmer picked up the ball at the edge of the box before driving the ball low into the bottom corner with a left-footed effort in the final minute of the half.

But the hosts continued their dominance of the game into the second period and earned the crucial 20 minutes from time as McTominay stepped up agai to save his team.

Alejandro Garnacho’s cross to the back post laded into the path of the Scottish international to head home the winner but there was a hairy moment for the home crowd in stoppage time as Armando Broja headed against the post.

A much-needed win for Ten Hag while Chelsea have now failed to win in three of their last four games.

Liverpool stay second

Scorers: Van Dijk 36′, Szoboszlai 90+3′.

Virgil van Dijk scored a sublime first-half volley as Liverpool won a tight contest at Bramall Lane on Chris Wilder’s first game back in charge of Sheffield United.

The Blades should’ve been in front early on when they caught Liverpool on the counter-attack with James McAtee being played through on goal but the midfielder’s shot was well saved by Caoimhín Kelleher.

Jürgen Klopp’s side broke the deadlock late into the first half with Trent Alexander-Arnold picking out Van Dijk unmarked from a corner to volley home.

Darwin Nùñez and Curtis Jones came off the bench to spurn good chances before Cameron Archer spurned a golden chance to nick a equaliser in stoppage time, slicing over the bar after the ball had fallen into his path in the middle of the box from a corner.

The visitors punished that miss as Nùñez picked out Dominik Szoboszlai to tuck home to wrap up the three points.

Liverpool move to within two points of league leaders Arsenal while Sheffield United remain rooted to the bottom of the league.

Cottagers hit Forest for five

Scorers: Iwobi 30′, 73′, Jiménez 34′, 54′, Cairney 85′.

Alex Iwobi and Raúl Jiménez both helped themselves to a brace as Fulham dismantled Nottingham Forest to increase the pressure on Steve Cooper.

Iwobi broke the deadlock on the half-hour mark, arriving at the back post to tuck home after Willian had curled the ball to the back post following a swift counter-attack.

That advantage was doubled four minutes later when Andreas Pereira slipped the ball through for Jiménez to side-foot into the top corner for his second goal for the club.

The Mexican completed his brace early in the second half, receiving Ola Aina’s cross in the middle before rounding Vlachodimos and back-heeling into the empty net.

Iwobi gabbed his second 17 minutes from time before Tom Cairney came off the bench to put the game beyond all doubt – inflicting a fourth straight defeat on Forest as the Cottagers move 11 points clear of the relegation zone.

Brighton see off Brentford

Scorers: Groß 31′, Hinshelwood 52′; Mbuemo (PEN) 26′.

Adam Hinshelwood scored his first goal for the club as Brighton returned to winning ways to move within five points of the top four.

Brentford had drawn first blood with Bryan Mbuemo netting from the penalty spot after Vitaly Janelt had been pulled down in the box.

But that lead didn’t last long as Kaoru Mitoma made the room for Pascal Groß to tuck into the bottom corner with a left-footed strike from just outside of the area.

The German then went from scorer to provider, teeing up Hinshelwood at the far post to head home early in the second half to wrap up a seventh win of the season for the Seagulls.

Bournemouth inflict more misery on Hodgson

Scorers: Senesi 25′, Moore 90+2′.

Boos rang out at Selhurst Park after Bournemouth made it four games without a win for Crystal Palace.

Jordan Ayew had stung the palms of Neto as the Eagles started the better but before long the Cherries broke the deadlock as a well-worked corner was flicked on by Luis Sinisterra to the back post for Marcos Senesi to score with a diving header.

Kieffer Moore came from the bench to head home in stoppage time to seal the three points and extend Bournemouth’s own unbeaten run to four games.

Thursday’s fixtures

Everton v Newcastle

Tottenham v West Ham