Arsenal, City, United triumph
Sixth-place Manchester United kept in touch thanks to a 3-1 defeat of Sunderland as former boss David Moyes had another disappointing day at Old Trafford.
Daley Blind fired the opener in the 39th minute, but inspired goalkeeping by Jordan Pickford prevented further damage until Zlatan Ibrahimovic slotted the second with eight minutes to go.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan sealed United’s fifth straight win when he cleverly flicked in the third before Fabio Borini grabbed a last-minute consolation for Sunderland.
United also stretched its unbeaten run to 11 games across all competitions, but Mourinho was not entirely happy with his club’s performance at a festive Old Trafford.
“I didn’t like the first-half performance. I like the result,” Mourinho said. “I liked very much the second half. I was expecting us to start much better. In the second half we had everything back, the intensity to recover the ball high and play fast passes.”
Also, Leicester City’s struggles continued when it lost 2-0 at home to Everton and the English champion is now two places and three points above the relegation zone.
“What a year. Everything was right for the first six months and now everything is wrong,” said Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri.
It was also an uncomfortable day for Bob Bradley as his second-from-bottom Swansea City was crushed 4-1 at home by West Ham United, the fifth time in six matches it has conceded three or more.
Burnley edged away from the danger zone with a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough and Sam Allardyce’s first match as Crystal Palace manager ended with a 1-1 draw at Watford.