Arsenal and Liverpool might be fading quickly, but the two Manchester clubs made sure they would take advantage of the Saturday slipups by picking up contrasting victories in the English Premier League.
Chelsea too strong for fading Arsenal
Manchester City scored a 2-1 victory over Swansea City, thanks to a late goal from Gabriel Jesus – the Brazilian also scored the first – before Manchester United eased past the reigning champions Leicester City, with Claudio Ranieri's team disappointing, yet again.
Leicester now seem to be heading for a proper relegation scrap, which is stunning to even think of, considering how well they were playing this time last year.
Having completed a fairy tale Premier League title victory last season, it looks like the hangover is just refusing to go in the current campaign and try as Ranieri might, Leicester keep getting picked off by the opposition teams.
The latest to do that were Manchester United, who topped the Foxes 3-0, thanks to goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Zatan Ibrahimovic and Juan Mata, all scored with the clock in the 40s.
Mkhitaryan opened the scoring for Manchester United with three minutes to go for the halftime whistle. Ibrahimovic then made it 2-0 two minutes later, which meant Leicester were already staring down the barrel at the break.
Matters did not improve further for the champions, as Mata finished the game off as a contest in the 49th minute, leaving Leicester just a point off the relegation zone.
"For the first 40 minutes we played OK but after that it was unacceptable," Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel said. "It is not good enough and sums our season up at the moment.
"Let's not talk about last season. It's gone. There are a lot of factors that go into it but this season has not been good right from the start.
"We are a group of players low on confidence but not low on fight. It is not a comfortable situation. It has been terrible, embarrassing. It is time for each one of us – from the top to the bottom of this club – to stand up and be counted. If we don't, we will be relegated."
Manchester United closed the gap on a top four place with the three points, with Jose Mourinho's side now just two points off fourth-placed Arsenal. Only a single point separates them from Liverpool, in fifth.
Manchester City moved up to third and they had January signing Gabriel Jesus to thank again, with the Brazil international scoring the winning goal in the 92nd minute.
After Gylfi Sigurdsson had cancelled out Jesus' early opener, it looked like Pep Guardiola might have to settle for a point, but Jesus was the man for the moment, scoring the winner in the second minute of stoppage time.
