Last week’s action in the Barclays Premier League did not feature a game from the squad currently at the top of the table but still provided entertainment for soccer fans. 

Swansea, Manchester United, Newcastle, Stoke, West Brom and Crystal Palace were weekend winners, with West Brom in particular pulling off an impressive victory against the surprising Southampton squad.  

However, the main attractions came on Sunday, as Arsenal maintained their grip on the third spot on the table with a 2-0 win against Everton while Liverpool got a character 2-1 win at home against a tough team in Manchester City. 

Olivier Giroud and Tomas Rosicky converted for Arsenal as Mesut Ozil continued to be exceptionally present in the Gunners’ midfield. 

Goals from Jordan Henderson and Phillippe Coutinho helped Liverpool continue their excellent recent form in the BPL after a very slow start. Liverpool has not lost a BPL game since the beginning of the New Year, and while they face an uphill climb to get to the top four, their recent play is quite promising.

Manchester City had an opportunity to close the gap on leaders Chelsea as Chelsea had a matchup against Tottenham in the Capital One Cup Final later in the day, but City failed to capitalize. 

Despite a goal from Edin Dzeko, City could not salvage a point as Coutinho mirrored his game winner from last year in this same fixture. Manchester City remains five points back of Chelsea in the race for the top spot while Arsenal is nine off the lead. 

Chelsea would have played Leicester City this weekend but now have a game in hand on the chase squads instead. Chelsea overwhelmed Tottenham 2-0 in Wembley Stadium to take the first trophy of the campaign in the Capital One Cup. 

Perhaps as revenge for their shocking 5-3 loss in December to Spurs, Chelsea carried the flow of the game from the outset, eventually having their efforts rewarded toward the end of the first half. Center back John Terry had a deflected shot fly past Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, and Diego Costa matched that with a deflected shot of his own in the second half as Chelsea refused to sit back on the lead. 

It was a dominant performance from the top team in the flight after last week’s setback draw against  a relatively weak team in Burnley. 

Within the next month, Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City will continue their Champions League campaigns as well, so it is especially impressive that these teams occupy the top spots in the BPL.  

Chelsea has a winner-take-all matchup against Paris Saint-German at home in Stamford Bridge, Arsenal looks to bounce back from a disappointing 3-1 defeat at home against Monaco, and Manchester City aims to pull off the upset against Barcelona at Camp Nou. 

Expect to see some stumbles from these teams, as their schedules and opponents become more and more rigorous with mounting pressure to perform in Europe and domestically. Last year, Man City was able to overcome Liverpool’s lead, but with both fixtures against Chelsea already completed City find themselves in a tough spot to catch up from following a streak of only two wins in their last six BPL matches. 

Liverpool, Arsenal, West Brom, Aston Villa and Manchester United remain the only top flight teams active in the FA Cup, which is also back in action this weekend. 

Liverpool will be up against Rovers in a Sunday afternoon matchup, while Aston Villa and West Brom will face off against one another on Saturday. The other all-BPL matchup will take place on Sunday, with Manchester United playing Arsenal. This will add a new wrinkle into the conference rivalry, as they will be playing in an out-of-conference match. 

— Dan Rozel