Premier League | Mesut Ozil stars in Arsenal’s goal-riot; City extend lead to 8 points

Mesut Ozil played a direct role in three goals for the first time in his Premier League career, thus helping Arsenal continue their superb home run this season. Alexandre Lacazette helped the Gunners gain an early lead in the game, but the hosts failed to capitalize on that for the most parts of the first half. Olivier Giroud replaced Lacazette at half-time and much to the joy of the Arsenal fans, he turned in a pass from Ozil to give the hosts a 2-0 lead in the 68th minute of the game. Alexis Sanchez, then, found the net as well slamming home a right-wing cross from Ozil. The German international then capped off a brilliant spell for the Gunners by dinking Aaron Ramsey's pass over Jonas Lossl for 4-0. In the 87th minute of the game, Giroud scored his second goal of the match to give the scoreline a one-sided appearance. This was Arsenal’s 12th successive home Premier League win and might serve as an ideal preparation for the forthcoming United clash.

Raheem Sterling's 13th goal of the season gave City a club-record 12th successive Premier League victory which restores their eight-point lead at the top of the table. After a goalless first-half, City took the lead at the start of the second half when Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk got the final touch on Kevin de Bruyne's free-kick, but the joy didn’t last long as a determined Oriol Romeu swept home Sofiane Boufal's cut-back with 15 minutes remaining to level the game at 1-1. However, Sterling struck in the sixth minute of the stoppage time to deny Saints a valuable point and frustrate title and city rivals Manchester United by extending the lead to eight points at the top.

Liverpool edged closer to the top four after beating Stoke City 3-0 thanks to goals from Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah at the Bet365 Stadium on Wednesday. Senegal winger Mane provided the Reds an early goal in a controversial manner by dinking the ball into the net after a marginal call by the linesman. In the second half, Mohamed Salah added to Mane’s goal, scoring twice in six minutes. In the 77th minute of the game, he fired home from Mane's cross and scored his second in the evening in the 83rd minute of the game to lead the visitors closer to the Premier League's top four.

AFC Bournemouth 1 - 2 Burnley