ليفربول بالصدارة بعد حسمه لقاء القمة امام توتنهام هوتسبير‎

ARSENAL 1-1 SOUTHAMPTON – SAMI MOKBEL AT THE EMIRATES STADIUM: Finally some courage. Finally some backbone. Finally a Premier League point. It’s still not good enough for a club the stature of Arsenal – but it’s a start. The disciplinary problems persist – the Gunners finishing their second consecutive game with 10 men following Gabriel’s nonsensical red card.

LEICESTER CITY 0-2 EVERTON – RIATH AL-SAMARRAI AT THE KING POWER STADIUM: The worry for Brendan Rodgers is that these are the sort of games that erode confidence. They did famously well out of the last season in which so many contenders looked fallible, but on this lap Leicester are yet to reveal if they will thrive in the chaos of the 2020-2021 campaign or become engulfed by it. Across 13 games, they have been capable of both battering Manchester City – before it became popular – and also losing to the likes of Fulham. Not that defeat to Everton should serve as a barometer of a bad times, but their failure to create anything of consequence against a side that has conceded so freely ought to be a concern. Ditto their home form, with four defeats from seven. But credit to Everton. They are moving again.

LEEDS UNITED 5-2 NEWCASTLE UNITED – CRAIG HOPE AT ELLAND ROAD: Marcelo Bielsa said Leeds United were in a negative cycle ahead of this game. Come the end it was Newcastle in a spin. There were still some familiar failings – two poor concessions, including another from a set-piece – but at the other end they were back to their very best. Five goals caused Gary Lineker to tweet, ‘Love watching Leeds play’, and even Bielsa, a manager not prone to excitement, would have enjoyed what he saw, especially on the back of four defeats from six and no home win in three months.

Fixture congestion, player fatigue, injuries and a wide-open race for the 2021 Premier League title means the temptation – and the need – to spend big in the January transfer window has never been greater.But successful recruitment midwinter is notoriously difficult to do well. The aim is to not just relieve those on the front line, but to power the final push for glory, so new recruits will have to go straight into the action.To ensure they are signing players who will gel with their new team mates the moment they walk through the door, clubs are turning to artificial intelligence to evaluate footballers on and off-field characteristics to calculate who they will work well with. Sportsmail has been given access to the system developed by Ai Abacus. It finds the best matches for big names like Dayot Upamecano and Erling Haaland but throws up some unexpected targets, too.

Jose Mourinho has claimed he was not given enough time by Manchester United after he was sacked by CEO Ed Woodward (inset) in 2018, but insists he respects the club’s decision. The Portuguese boss (left) left Old Trafford midway through the 2018-19 campaign after the club made a poor start to the season, with claims he had fallen out with players such as Paul Pogba and lost the dressing room. Mourinho, now flourishing at the top of the league with Tottenham (right) had delivered both the League Cup and Europa League trophies in his first season, but was unable to deliver the Premier League title that the club craved.

AC Milan had become something of a footballing purgatory since winning Serie A in 2010-11 under Massimiliano Allegri. While they finished 2nd and 3rd in the two seasons that followed, form declined, talent declined, managers changed with increasing frequency and league finishes became 8th, 10th, 7th, 6th, 6th, 5th and 6th. For one of the Champions League’s all-time great competitors, they have fallen by the wayside. Stefano Pioli came in and his announcement was met with a Twitter trend of #PioliOut. Faith was in short supply and yet here they stand, top of Serie A, full of belief they can oust Juventus and end a decade’s wait for supremacy. Sportsmail picks out five key areas behind their success in 2020.

As the clock ticked down at the Etihad Stadium, Pep Guardiola grew more and more frustrated and it showed when the fourth official put the board up in injury-time. Guardiola had watched his side take the lead, concede and then struggle to find another way past West Brom – who sit 19th in the Premier League. Desperate to find out how much time would be added on at the end of the game, the Manchester City boss had fixed his sight on fourth official Anthony Taylor as he prepared to announced how many minutes of stoppage time would be played.

One supporter was ejected from Exeter City’s clash with Harrogate Town on Tuesday night as League Two saw two different sets of fans boo their players for taking the knee (footage above). Cambridge United supporters could also be heard jeering the gesture before kick off during their match against Colchester United at Abbey Stadium (footage above). It follows high profile incidents at Millwall and Colchester in the EFL since the return of supporters to stadiums this month.

Lionel Messi has been urged to walk away from his ‘sad situation’ at Barcelona and join Manchester City by his former Argentina team-mate Pablo Zabaleta (pictured right with Messi). Barcelona star Messi (left) is facing an uncertain future with just over six months remaining on his £500,000-a-week contract. The 33-year-old, who attempted to force a move through to Manchester City in the summer, has been far from his best this season with Barcelona struggling to get going under new boss Ronald Koeman.