The eighteenth round of the English Premier League season got underway with the Saturday Dec 16 early match where Leicester City hosted Crystal Palace at the King Power Stadium where, after building on their recent record of 7 games without defeat after starting with no points after 7 games, the visitors struck early through Christian Benteke, scoring Palace’s first away goal of the season with a header from a right wing cross, who then set up Palace’s second for Wilfried Zaha in the 40th minute, and then sealed a 3-nil Palace victory when Bakary Sako converted the third goal deep in stoppage time, firing into the top left hand corner of the net from the edge of the box, with any chance of a Leicester fightback having been extinguished with the 61st minute sending off of Wilfred Ndidi by referee Martin Atkinson for diving.
In later games, Arsenal entertained Newcastle United at the Emirates Stadium, and dominated the first half, but only had Mezut Ozil’s volleyed goal to show for a 1-nil half time lead, and still failed to turn possession and chances into goals in the second half either, thus claiming a 1-nil win which pushed Newcastle into the relegation places given their acquisition of only one point in the past 7 games, further emphasising their need for reinforcements in the upcoming January transfer window in order to retain their EPL place.
