LONDON: Cenk Tosun scored on his debut for Crystal Palace in their surprise 2-2 draw at Premier League champions Manchester City.

Two late goals from Sergio Aguero looked to have settled a Premier League contest that burst into life in the closing stages after Cenk had become for fourth Turk to reach 10 Premier League goals when he headed Palace into a first-half lead.

Palace, who had defended resolutely for most of the game, refused to give up and Wilfried Zaha’s late drive into the box paid off when his cross was deflected and turned in off Fernandinho. It was a game City controlled in large spells, hitting the bar through Kevin De Bruyne early on and later having a penalty awarded but overturned by VAR.

Yet again they were caught out from a set-piece as on-loan Everton forward Tosun marked his first Palace start with a goal.

Aguero, taking his record City goal tally past 250, looked to have turned things round with his late double but Palace, who won the corresponding fixture last season, again frustrated them.

The frantic closing stages aside, City were controlled and dominant in possession. They did not lay siege to the Palace goal but they patiently carved out a number of chances.

This was manager Pep Guardiola’s 49th birthday: none of the five managers to celebrate their birtbday on a league matchday has ever won.

Initially Palace seemed more intent on taking time out of the game than attacking, with Guaita noticeably slow to take goalkicks. It came as a surprise when Palace snatched the lead, against the run of play, six minutes before half-time but City, not for the first time this season, were exposed at a set-piece.

James McArthur’s corner was met by a firm header back across the area by Cahill and Tosun then diverted past Ederson with a strong header of his own. City thought they had been handed a lifeline 19 minutes from time when Scott awarded them a penalty for handball by Jairo Riedewald.

That was quickly extinguished, however, as VAR ruled the handling was accidental after Joao Cancelo’s cross had initially struck his leg. City were not happy but the decision was understandable. Aguero finally broke through when he slid in at the far post in the 82nd minute to turn in a Jesus cross for his 250th City goal.

He then sparked jubilant celebrations when he guided in a header from a Benajmin Mendy cross moments later. It was not the be the final word, however, as Zaha drove forward and forced the unlikely equaliser.

John Fleck struck a late equaliser as Sheffield United came from behind to seal a Premier League point in a 1-1 draw against Arsenal.

Gabriel Martinelli’s ninth goal in 10 Arsenal starts appeared to have the Gunners on course for a win but Fleck struck with seven minutes remaining to secure a 1-1 draw for the visitors.

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta was without captain and top goalscorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who watched from the stands as his replacement Martinelli scored at the end of a quiet first half.

He even tweeted that he saw Martinelli, 18, as a future “superstar” as the Brazilian and Bukayao Saka – three months his junior and playing out of position at left-back – were Arsenal’s best players. But, as they have struggled to do for some time, the hosts could not see out the contest and had to settle for a share of the spoils which sees them ninth in the table and four points adrift of the Blades.

Arteta’s side were almost playing on the counter-attack in the opening exchanges, relying on the pace of Nicolas Pepe and Martinelli to get them in behind – the pair combining for the latter to shoot off-target.

It would be Martinelli, the only man close to Aubameyang’s numbers so far this season, who opened the scoring in the final minute of the first-half.

The 18-year-old drifted into the middle unmarked to turn Saka’s deflected shot in from close range. In the second half Chris Wilder’s side began forcing the issue in the search for an equaliser. Arsenal were struggling to create openings to secure the points and were lucky to see an unmarked Oli McBurnie head straight at Leno with 10 minutes remaining. But their luck ran out soon after as Sharp flicked a Callum Robinson cross into the path of Fleck, whose shot into the ground flashed into the corner of Leno’s net.

This was FIFA referee Mike Dean’s 500th top-level game – the official once described as a “disgrace” by ex-Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

Jack Grealish continued his fine goalscoring form against Brighton to salvage relegation-threatened Aston Villa a point from a 1-1 draw at the Amex Stadium. Villa captain Grealish scored for the fourth successive meeting with Albion by lashing home 15 minutes from time and earning the visitors a potentially vital point in the battle for survival.

Seagulls winger Leandro Trossard gave the hosts a first-half lead with a drilled low shot past Villa’s debutant goalkeeper Pepe Reina. Dean Smith’s 18th-placed visitors remain a single point from safety, while Brighton are just three points better off after failing to hang on to their slender lead. Tempers boiled over at the final whistle, with an altercation between Neal Maupay and Douglas Luiz leading to the players being separated by team-mates.

Belgian Trossard did the damage, firing a low, angled drive across the 37-year-old debut keeper Pepe Reina and into the bottom right corner after being slipped in following a powerful run by Frenchman Maupay. Neither side had managed an attempt on target until that point. The away side’s first shot on target was a tame 75th-minute free-kick from substitute Luiz, but they were level moments later.

Unmarked Grealish was given far too much room by Brighton’s backline and he expertly controlled Luiz’s right-wing cross before lashing a soaring left-footed shot past Maty Ryan in front of the delirious travelling fans.

With the momentum behind them, the visitors had looked more likely to go on and win it but they ended up indebted to their veteran keeper. Reina, who played only once in Serie A this season, proved he still has the reflexes for top-flight football by tipping away an acrobatic Maupay effort two minutes from time as both sides had to be content with a point.

Norwich held on for a crucial 1-0 win over fellow strugglers Bournemouth which finished 10-a-side and featured the Premier League’s first pitchside VAR review. Referee Paul Tierney, who had already sent off Bournemouth’s Steve Cook in the first half, consulted his monitor in the second before upgrading Ben Godfrey’s yellow card to a red. Cook’s dismissal came when he handled Ondrej Duda’s goalbound shot after Teemu Pukki had been denied by Aaron Ramsdale. Pukki fired his side into the lead from the subsequent penalty to put Norwich in a good position to secure their first home win since September.

This was the first time a referee had consulted his monitor in the Premier League. In the second half, Godfrey was dismissed after review for an ill-judged tackle on Callum Wilson as both sides finished the game a man down. The Canaries went into the match eight points adrift of safety at the foot of the table, but closed the gap to six and are three behind 19th-placed Bournemouth following their narrow win. Norwich almost took the lead through debutant Duda after Ramsdale came off his line to deny Pukki and the ball fell to the Slovakian.

His effort was spectacularly palmed onto the post by the diving Cook, who was shown a straight red card before Pukki fired home his first league goal since December 14. Pukki had a great opportunity to double his side’s lead and go closer to putting the game beyond Bournemouth but in a one-on-one with Ramsdale, the Finland forward tried to shoot under the goalkeeper who was able to dive onto the ball.

Tierney went to VAR after Godfrey lunged into a tackle on Bournemouth’s Wilson and was originally shown a yellow card, the referee changing his decision to red following a lengthy review.

The visitors came close to an equaliser as Krul tipped an Ake header over the bar following a Ryan Fraser free-kick, but the scoreline remained 1-0. Raul Jimenez struck twice in 12 minutes as Wolves stung Southampton with a 3-2 comeback Premier League win at St Mary’s Stadium.

The Mexico striker levelled from the spot with a penalty rightly awarded after a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) check, before blasting home a breathless winner for Nuno Espirito Santo’s visitors. Jimenez broke a five-game scoring duck to move to 10 league goals, and complete an impressive turnaround win for Wolves, who had trailed 2-0 at the break.

Defender Jan Bednarek’s first goal since April 2018 and forward Shane Long’s first effort in nine months had Southampton dreaming of a sixth win in seven games in all competitions. While all eyes were on red-hot striker Danny Ings – with 10 goals in the last eleven games – it was Long and Bednarek who pounced instead as Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side took control.

But after the break Wolves shook off their sluggishness and stormed to an impressive victory kick-started by Pedro Neto drilling home from close range. Jonny was upended in the area by Jack Stephens and Cedric Soares for the penalty that Jimenez dispatched to level the clash.

Then the 28-year-old fired home again to seal the win, with Adama Traore again impressing with two assists.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin denied West Ham owners David Sullivan and David Gold a happy anniversary as Everton battled to a 1-1 draw at the London Stadium. The striker registered his 11th goal of the season moments after Issa Diop had given the hosts the lead. This weekend marks 10 years since Sullivan and Gold bought West Ham, and the controversial duo admitted in their programme notes that the club have not progressed on the pitch as much as they had hoped in that time.

It was hard to argue against that sentiment as West Ham were 17th when they took over, and a decade on they kicked off against Everton in precisely the same position. In fact, “10 years of failure” was the verdict of the hundreds of disenchanted fans who gathered outside the stadium to protest against the owners before the match.

Hammers boss David Moyes, facing his old club, had called for his players to give record signing Sebastien Haller more service and Mark Noble did just that, standing up an early cross which the French striker headed narrowly wide. Moments later Pablo Zabaleta took a Robert Snodgrass pass on his chest and shot via a deflection into the side-netting. The goal West Ham had been threatening arrived five minutes before the interval, Snodgrass whipping in a free-kick and Diop glancing in a header. But Everton hit back immediately, also from a set-piece, when Mason Holgate flicked on a corner for Calvert-Lewin to convert at the far post.

Pickford almost dropped a clanger early in the second half when he spilled a high ball but Holgate bailed him out by collecting Haller’s prod at goal. The England keeper just about held on to another Haller header and clawed a deflected Snodgrass header wide as West Ham pushed for a winner.

Troy Deeney missed a penalty as Tottenham forced a goalless draw at Vicarage Road to deny Watford a fourth straight Premier League win. The Hornets skipper saw his second-half spot-kick saved by Paulo Gazzaniga, but it was another point claimed during the current resurgence under Nigel Pearson.

Watford have now taken 14 points from their last six games and are looking upwards in the final third of the campaign. Jose Mourinho’s side have now gone three league games without finding the net and are without a win since Boxing Day, meaning their top-four chances are diminishing with every match.

Isaac Hayden’s injury-time header handed Newcastle a priceless victory over Chelsea as Steve Bruce’s men eased themselves seven points clear of the Premier League drop zone.

Hayden headed the returning Allan Saint-Maximin’s cross past Kepa Arrizabalaga four minutes into stoppage time to send the home fans among a crowd of 52,217 at St James’ Park into raptures.

His first goal since February last year clinched a 1-0 win on a day when Joelinton had hit the crossbar with a first-half header, but Martin Dubravka had to make a vital one-on-one save from N’Golo Kante as Chelsea dominated without ever being able to find the killer touch.

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