Villa hold United, Saints win

Aston Villa ended Manchester United's winning run with a 1-1 draw, while Southampton arrested their slump with a 3-0 victory over Everton.

Champions Manchester City moved level on points with Premier League leaders Chelsea after defeating Crystal Palace 3-0 in the lunchtime kick-off at the Etihad Stadium.

City made light of their lack of available strikers, with David Silva's brace plus a goal from Yaya Toure, all notched after the break, steering them to what proved a routine victory and their eight successive win in all competitions.

Manuel Pellegrini's second-placed side join Chelsea, who are at Stoke on Monday night, on 39 points having played a game more, while their goal difference is inferior to the table-toppers' by one.

Third-placed United are seven points behind Chelsea and Manchester City following their draw at 10-man Aston Villa, which ended the Red Devils' six-game winning streak.

The hosts led against the run of play through Christian Benteke's fine, curling finish in the 18th minute, but a Radamel Falcao header drew things level in the 53rd before Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor was controversially sent off following a challenge on Ashley Young.

West Ham remain fourth and are just a point behind United after beating rock-bottom Leicester 2-0 at Upton Park.

Andy Carroll pounced on a Paul Konchesky error to put the home side in front in the first half and the seal was put on the Foxes' 10th defeat in a 12-game winless sequence when Stewart Downing fired in after the interval.

Southampton emphatically brought an end to their run of five straight losses in all competitions by seeing off Everton 3-0 at St Mary's.

A Romelu Lukaku own-goal and efforts from Graziano Pelle - his 11th club goal of the season - and Maya Yoshida sealed the points for the fifth-placed Saints, who are two points behind West Ham.

Tottenham are up to sixth, with goals from Harry Kane - now with 13 goals for Spurs this term - and Erik Lamela either side of Ashley Barnes' reply guiding them to a 2-1 home win over Burnley.

At the other end of the table, QPR moved out of the relegation zone as Charlie Austin's hat-trick saw them complete a remarkable comeback from 2-0 down to defeat West Brom 3-2 at Loftus Road.

Albion raced into a two-goal lead through early efforts from Joleon Lescott and Silvestre Varela, but Austin swiftly hit back with a penalty before adding a leveller and then 86th-minute winner.

It takes his goal tally for the season to 11, while his team have moved up from 18th to 15th, two points clear of the drop zone.

Burnley have replaced QPR in the bottom three, slipping to 18th place, while Hull stay 19th after they lost 1-0 at home against Swansea.

Ki Sung-yeung's early strike proved the difference as the Tigers' run without a win extended to 10 games.

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Diving debate annoys Mourinho

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho says it would be a "disaster" to punish divers retrospectively.

Diego Costa and Willian both received yellow cards for dives against Hull at Stamford Bridge last week, when City boss Steve Bruce claimed Gary Cahill went down "like something out of Swan Lake" in the area.

Those incidents have added to the calls for an independent panel to review and punish players who dive, with former referee Mark Halsey suggesting it is the "only one real solution".

But Mourinho said. "The independent panels don't do their job well in any case.

"When you go to an independent panel to analyse and suspend players by video evidence, it is a disaster. It is a disaster.

"I remember last season, and I don't want to say the names of clubs or players, you had players and clubs punished by panels and you had clubs and players protected by panels.

"I saw somebody kick a player on the floor, hit him in the back - no suspension. I saw others with minor things being suspended.

"Players are punished for silly comments on Facebook, Instagram and this kind of thing, and players are not punished for other things.

"You speak one week about one dive that, for me, was not even a dive - you don't speak about Filipe Luis who could be in this moment in the hospital having big surgery on his knee or in his leg.

"Independent panels are the same ones that last season analysed my situation against Aston Villa and I was punished and suspended because I tried to help, so for me panels only favour the ones who always have the favours."

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Toure: Lallana our best player

Kolo Toure has named Adam Lallana as Liverpool's player of the season despite Raheem Sterling's eye-catching form.

Lallana has started only nine Premier League games since his £25m move from Southampton and was replaced at half-time of Sunday's 3-0 defeat to Manchester United; he was also left on the bench for Liverpool's must-win clash with Basel in the Champions League.
While Lallana has scored or assisted just three Premier League goals this season, Sterling has contributed to seven goals.
But Toure said after Wednesday night's Capital One Cup win over Bournemouth: "We are very happy with everyone’s performance. But, for me, Adam Lallana has been the best player in this Liverpool team this year. Definitely."
Toure also spoke warmly about another one of Brendan Rodgers's summer signings who scored against the Cherries, saying: "I am very proud of (Lazar) Markovic.
"Since he came here, he hasn’t had a lot of chances to play but he’s shown great character and worked hard in training. He is a great boy, works hard, is very quick and technically is very, very good."
He also had words of praise for Sterling: "He is a fantastic boy and a fantastic player. He is playing in a different position, which is not easy to adapt to in two games, but he scored twice.
"We will see a lot to come from him because he is a great player and a great boy as well, very intelligent."

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Ben Arfa set for January exit

Hatem Ben Arfa is set for a January move after finding himself unwanted at Newcastle and Hull, his agent has confirmed.

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has said he does not want to take Ben Arfa back from his loan spell at Hull, where boss Steve Bruce has written him out of his plans.
Ben Arfa’s agent Michel Ouzaine confirmed a move will take place with a number of sides keen on the Frenchman.
"There are a lot of clubs interested in him, despite everything that has been said,” Ouzaine told 20minutes.fr. “He will have a new club in January, that won't be a problem, don't you worry."
Bruce dismissed rumours of a bust-up with the midfielder but did confirm he has played his last game for the Tigers.

Window

"If he decides to stay in France that's up to him, there's only 10 days until the window opens and I think it's fair to say he's probably played his last game for Hull," said Bruce.
"He didn't deserve to be in the team on merit. It's my job to pick a team which I think will win a game on the Saturday.
“All this reported bust-up and the rest of it... I think you (journalists) want to make that story. What I've said to Ben Arfa is unfortunately I wasn't going to accept a performance like I saw from him against Manchester United.
“It's up to him to force himself back into the squad, that's the way it is. Sometimes transfers don't work, especially with a loan deal. Sometimes they can be the best thing for the player and the club.
“Unfortunately it hasn't worked out. I wish him the best of luck. I hope he goes on to have the career his talent deserves, that's all I've got to say on the matter.

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