Alli gives Chelsea the blues, Salah makes the difference

"Yes, I think they have started before us. I am talking about my period, my era. For sure, now, they are ahead of us," Antonio Conte spoke in praise of Mauricio Pochettino's side before they hosted an all-important crunch encounter at the Stamford Bridge which would effectively design the Blues' calendar for the next season.

Chelsea had all to lose. Winning the title one season and offering no great shakes as defenders of it in the very next, it's an appalling bipolar trend that runs in West London and the tides that have hit the land this season have shored up nothing of note.

Tottenham Hotspur, on the other hand, are in a prolonged sitch of progress. The cliche, Whenever I find the door to success, someone changes the lock, resonates. Fashionably so, but for how long?

The game of the weekend was ceremoniously scheduled to be the last of Matchday 32. A Chelsea side that has consistently oscillated between the exciting and the mediocre found their rears in the last chance saloon as they hosted Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge.

Spurs hadn't got out of the Bridge after a Premier League game without a heavy heart for a generation and with Harry Kane not starting, the Chelsea faithful must have believed that their team was finally going to shape up and go for the kill.

With Willian, Hazard, Morata, Alonso and Moses bombing forward and with Antonio Rudiger feeding pin-point diagonals like Paul Scholes was giving him revision classes, Chelsea looked like they'd peg away till their bodies drop for a Champions League spot.

As Morata nodded a Moses cross past Lloris, who intermittently looks slow on the uptake, in the 30th minute, the wind was pretty much in Chelsea's sails. But the gush of the current was leathered right out of it as Christian Eriksen lived up to his nickname 'Golazo' with an unstoppable thunderbolt from 35 yards out.

Caballero crumbled under the intensity while the crossbar shivered in shock. Stamford Bridge let slip a gasp of bewilderment. It was quite simply, a beautiful moment of individual brilliance from the cell that keeps Pochettino's machine go tick-tock.

It was a goal that stripped Chelsea off the desire and robbed them off the steam that is demanded at the gates of the elite competition. You don't got it? You don't go in.

Spurs kicked on from there and in the absence of their main man, it was Dele Alli who came barking out of the doghouse he was sentenced to, with the magic that led us to conveniently forget the fact the lad is still only 21 years of age. But his bringing down of the ball and striking it without having to shift strides, in the 62nd minute, looked like a skill that took a lifetime to nourish and go great guns.

Willy boy could feel a bit hard done as he had just pulled off a great save to rid Chelsea off the same exact predicament a few moments ago.

Going into the game, Tottenham Hotspur only needed a draw to keep Chelsea at bay but they had already gone one better right after the hour mark. The Blues could offer nada in response and 4 minutes later, Heung Min Son, the South Korean deity, flew into the box in top gear and tried to squeeze the ball through the feet of Caballero.

The ball rebounded off him and Son extended his selfish streak and went for goal once again and Caballero ran back to thwart the danger this time. But the ball fell to Dele Alli once again. He said, "here, hold my misfortune while I knock this in", and calmly sent the ball into the netting before wheeling away in celebration. Banter. Criticism. Ill-luck. Serendipity. Redemption.

As the North Londoners sang 'We've got Alli, Dele Alli, I just don't think you understand," this time, you believed them for all the conviction it came with. Something the boy ventured deep into his heart to find and return to the stands. And they passed that around with uncontainable joy.

To add to the smiles, Mr Harry Kane made an appearance towards the end as Antonio Conte looked on, holding on to the lingering fragments of a flailing English dream.

Save for the game against Liverpool, Chelsea have a smooth road ahead till the end of the season. But trailing 4th placed Tottenham by 8 points, it's safe to say that it's a road that leads nowhere.

Salah's ability to score even when he is having a bad game proves his quality

The jollies of the Premier League couldn't have returned after the international break to a more typical setting as Crystal Palace hosted the heavy metal gig of Jurgen Klopp and company. Selhurst Park has been testing for the heavyweights of the league and quite recently, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United had to swedge to their last drops of sweat to come away with 3 points.

As Wilfried Zaha, tormentor in chief to Roy Hodgson made demands on the Liverpool defence, a sense of optimism swept across and the Eagles were sizing up their prey and waiting eagerly to strike. And strike they did, as Zaha won a penalty as early as the 8th minute, owing to some poor decision making by Loris Karius who got too excited to meet a ball he wasn't getting anywhere near even if he had the legs of Usain Bolt.

Milivojevic smashed the ball into the corner after sending the Liverpool goalkeeper the other way and Liverpool's dwindling Robinhood fortunes looked like it got renewed for a new episode. But the Reds dragged themselves back into the game and Sadio Mane tapped in from close range to level things in the second half.

Earlier in the first half, the Senegalese forward had gotten booked for simulation as he crashed into the deck from minimal contact. He looked all set to be sent off when he played ref and stopped the game by taking the ball into his hands after he went down right outside Liverpool's defensive third. Luckily for Liverpool, Mane was let off and was substituted subsequently to put a stop to his delinquency streak.

Palace played themselves back into the game and if it wasn't for the worrying ineptitude of Christian Benteke who fluffed his lines twice in as many minutes, the game would've taken an entirely different route. But it was not to be.

Adam Lallana, meanwhile, had to be stretchered off after pulling his hamstring in what has been an anticlimactic season for the Englishman.

As the game sauntered into its business end, a familiar feeling of recurring misfortune was tangible at Selhurst Park and it was fully realized when Mo Salah, who had an uncharacteristically quiet game up until that point, trapped the ball like a sack of sand in front of the 6-yard box and had the beating of Wayne Hennessy a split second later. It bore the mark of a predator who will have his meal even if he's limping about the hunting ground.

Liverpool briefly went ahead of Manchester United who had played 2 games less but more importantly, they solidified their place in the Top 4 and took one step closer to Champions League qualification.

Crystal Palace, who have been trying to claw their way out of the drop zone has now been absorbed back into the land of uncertainty they refused to leave for the first couple of months of the season. They sit 17th with 30 points, just 2 points off losing the Premier League privilege.

Brighton have been more or less solid at the Falmer stadium so far this season and as they hosted Leicester City, they had reasons to be optimistic.

And save for the last quarter of an hour, Leicester City were down in the dumps and looked like they deserved to board the bus back without a point. A Brighton win was in the works and the script seemed to be of the same nature as they won a penalty. However, Kasper Schmeichel read Glen Murray well and parried the spot kick to deny Chris Hughton's men the chance to put daylight between themselves and the relegation servicemen.

It took for the house to be on fire to spur Leicester to life and Vincent Iborra and Jamie Vardy had no reservations when it came to fouling up the Brighton faithful as they scored a goal each and put the game to bed.

Glen Murray has a lot of mirror time coming up in life after turning his nose up at the two glorious chances that came his way. He had the best chance of the game, prior to the penalty, when Pascal Gross sent him a chance on a plate but Murray decided to blast wide from 10 yards. Having him on that flight to Russia seems like a far cry unless he opts to go the Tom Cruise route now.

Perhaps, the only takeaway for Brighton is how impressive new signing Jurgen Locadia was as he proved to be quite a drag for Leicester on the right side before being taken just minutes before tragedy swept Falmer.

Needing, perhaps, just a win more to slip into the safety robes and stay in the top flight, things are not as easy as it would suggest for Chris Hughton and co. After hosting Huddersfield next Saturday, Brighton will take on Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Manchester City in addition to their visits to Selhurst Park and Turf Moor to take on Crystal Palace and Burnley.

They are in for a couple of tests, one of character and one of longevity- two questions they need to ace to cement their spot among England's finest.

Things are pretty settled at the top end of the table.

At Goodison Park, what was expected, unfolded. It was all Manchester City; unshackled and uncompromising. Sam Allardyce's baffling decision to show up for a knife fight with a toothbrush ensured a deficit and Manchester City were out to collect at Goodison. Fielding Rooney in a holding midfield role led to them being outnumbered in the centre and outrun on more occasions than my limbs would let me count.

Everton got their tactics horribly wrong and you simply shouldn't afford Manchester City any sort of civility. They sashayed forward with swagger and Leroy Sane leathered a full volley into the corner from a last-ditch Silva cutback. Everton were not without their chances and Yannick Bolasie skied a header after Calvert-Lewin's sumptuous cross threatened to upset the script.

Gabriel Jesus smashed in a header from 6 yards out in the 12th minute. Raheem Sterling got the third, once again from a David Silva cross to put the game beyond doubt. Yannick Bolasie pulled one back in the second half but that was that for Everton on yet another disappointing night for Big Sam.

Sanchez must have missed this at Arsenal

Things were rather straightforward for Manchester United at Old Trafford as they played some of the scintillating football that looked likely to make them famous this season in the opening weeks.

Having understood that its best to deploy one of Alexis Sanchez, Anthony Martial, and Marcus Rashford in the starting XI so as to facilitate a spot for the elegant Juan Mata, Jose Mourinho also deployed Jesse Lingard as the no.10 while pulling Pogba back into a more conservative role.

Maybe it was all the space that was afforded to them, but the United attack flourished and Old Trafford hit the high notes. Jesse Lingard, Alexis Sanchez and Lukaku gave the Swans no breathing space as they kept plodding away in the first half.

There was a short interval where Swansea threatened to restore balance but David de Gea savagely denied Tammy Abrahams with yet another jaw-dropping save- one that he pulled off, once again, with the grace of a ballerina.

Manchester United still need to bully themselves for coming up 2 or 3 goals short of what they could have got but Alexis Sanchez had provided enough icing on the cake with a spectacular, sure-headed finish after Romelu Lukaku had opened the scoring quite early in the game.

Carlos Carvalhal's side is 15th and there were reasons to be optimistic in so much as the Swans look like a team that work together and could crank up the gears if all of them willed that way. Carvalhal said after the game that his team are 'swimming', perceivably as opposed to sinking, though they are still caught in the storm of relegation. But brighter days seem to be on the horizon and the Welsh side may yet come unscathed at the end of the season and no one would be surprised.

Manchester United will not have to endure the pain of giving this rampant City side a guard of honour but they still run the risk of crowning them should they lose the Manchester derby next weekend. The Premier League seldom runs short of spice, doesn't it?

West Bromwich are going down unless they pull a rabbit out of the hat

It is not often that you see the entirety of the bottom half of the table get embroiled in the relegation battle and almost a dozen teams are a good or a bad run away from sinking into Championship obscurity.

West Bromwich have taken a further step towards relegation after letting Burnley have their way in the Saturday evening matchup.

Ashley Barnes, who has been in top goalscoring form as of late, scored an absolute worldie of a bicycle kick and Christ Wood came up with the goods in the 72nd minute against his old club to further pile on the misery on Alan Pardew, who has now agreed to mutually part company with the club. Sacked, in the crude parlance.

Arsenal looked at par with a 19th placed Stoke City, unimaginative and dull, until a fleeting moment of indiscretion from Bruno Martins Indi threw the Potters out of the bus that was driving them to a p(o)int.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struck it sweetly as Jack Butland dived the other way. In the 86th minute, he scored again to put the game beyond doubt. Ndiaye would then shove Lacazette to the ground as they were chasing a nowhere ball to gift Arsenal a penalty in the 89th minute.

Aubameyang chipped in with some compassion and let out-of-favour Alexandre Lacazette get himself a goal from the spot- a move that was cheered on and welcomed by both the Gunners and manager Arsene Wenger.

The scoreline that read 3-0 in Arsenal's favour at the final whistle had more sheen that it deserved but Stoke have some heavy lifting to do if they are to muscle their way out of the drop zone. They have a heavy duty set of fixtures coming up. Tottenham, Burnley, Liverpool... man, they are in a pickle, aren't they?

Arnautovic slots home after some pinball activity in the box

Meanwhile, West Ham condemned 18th placed Southampton to a 'hammer'ing thanks to a scrappy brace from Marko Arnautovic who should have scored a couple more goals for all the chances that came riding in his path.

But David Moyes will be happy with all 3 points which puts them in a slightly better position as they set themselves up to negotiate past the relatively tough set of games coming up- playing away against Chelsea, Arsenal and Leicester.

Bournemouth and Watford, 10th and 11th, parted with a point each as a late, late strike from Jermaine Defoe made sure Watford didn't climb over them on the table. Parity remains at the centre of the table and both teams are perhaps just a win away from securing their stay in the Premier League.

The title is now Manchester City's to lose. There are no fresh twists in that tale and the Champions League vessel's also been taken off the stove as Chelsea slipped into a pothole and let the other top dogs dart towards the ribbon.

But the top 5 don't make up the Premier League and the drop zone down under is getting as tight as a tick and the Premier League's unpredictability remains scatheless albeit the tension's on the unwelcome side of the table.

Edited by Amit Mishra

Alli gives Chelsea the blues, Salah makes the difference - PL GW 32 lives up to billing