An interesting afternoon in the English top tier. After Everton surprised pretty much everyone with their win over table-toppers Arsenal, more intense football took place across England.Liverpool fell to a third successive away defeat as they fell to a devastating 3-0 loss at Molineux by Wolverhampton Wanderers. Liverpool came into the game off the back of a streak of three games without a win and back-to-back games without scoring a goal. The Reds dire run of form looked set to continue, as Hwang Hee-Chan raced through on goal before seeing his effort deflect off Jöel Matip before going in off the post. Things got worse for Liverpool just a matter of minutes later as Wolves doubled their lead. Craig Dawson managed to grab himself a debut goal, as he was quickest to react to prod home a loose ball following a save from Allison Becker.The Reds were staring down the barrel of a third consecutive away loss for the first time since March 2012. However, Wolves were standing firm as Liverpool had still failed to test José Sá with just 20 minutes remaining. That was until a golden opportunity fell to the feet of Darwin Núñez, but the Uruguayan scuffed his effort straight into the arms of the Portuguese shot stopper. Núñez’s miss looked to be costly just minutes later when Rúben Neves added Wolves’ third. The midfielder received the ball from a pinpoint pass by Adama Traoré, before he rifled an effort into the goal and all but secured three points for the Wanderers.Wolves saw out their comprehensive victory to climb out of the bottom three and leave Liverpool’s top four hopes in tatters, as they now sit ten points adrift with Newcastle set to play later in the evening.Elsewhere, Manchester United extended their unbeaten Premier League run on home turf to nine matches thanks to a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace, a result which also cemented United’s spot in the top-four.When you go to Old Trafford as a side who aren’t one of the stereotypical ‘big six’ you certainly need lady luck on your side. Crystal Palace certainly didn’t have that in the opening stages, quite the opposite in fact as a brief VAR check adjudged Will Hughes to have handled in the box, affording Bruno Fernandes the chance from 12-yards to fire United ahead, one he duly converted.It was clear to see Palace were a side void of confidence, with their lack of creativity certainly of concern to boss Patrick Vieira, who has a long-running feud with United dating back to his Arsenal playing days.United could count themselves slightly unlucky not to take a two-goal advantage into the break, but Fred could only steer an effort just wide after some smart work from Wout Weghorst. Palace looked a little brighter after the break and were starting to look a bit more dangerous in and around the penalty area. However, their endeavours were soon diffused when the man of the moment Marcus Rashford was on hand to slam home United’s second of the afternoon to leave Palace with a mountain to climb to get back into the game.It didn’t prove to be such a straightforward task for United to see the game out though, with VAR adjudging Casemiro to have raised his hands at Hughes, and the Brazilian was given his marching orders. Palace did at least give themselves a fighting chance of claiming an unlikely point when Jeffrey Schlupp rather fortuitously halved the arrears to set up a grandstand finish at Old Trafford. As it happened, a four centre half strong back line was able to stand tall for United and see out an all-important three points in their bid for a top-four finish, while Palace remain winless in the Premier League in 2023.PREMIER LEAUGE – Matchday 22FridayChelsea – Fulham 0-0Saturday Everton – Arsenal 1-0 (0-0)/Tarkowski 60/Aston Villa – Leicester 2-4 (2-3)/Watkins 9, Souttar 32 og – Maddison 12, Iheanacho 41, Tete 45+2, Praet 79/Brentford – Southampton 3-0 (2-0)/Mee 41, Mbeumo 44, Jensen 80/Brighton – Bournemouth 1-0 (0-0)/Mitoma 87/Man.Utd. – Crystal Palace 2-1 (1-0)/Fernandes 7 pen, Rashford 62 – Schlupp 76/Wolverhampton – Liverpool 3-0 (2-0)/Matip 5 og, Dawson 12, Neves 71/20.30: (1.70) Newcastle (3.70) West Ham (5.90)Sunday 17.00: (2.70) Nott.Forest (3.10) Leeds (2.75)19.30: (4.90) Tottenham (3.60) Man.City (1.75)***odds are subject to change***
