Southampton striker Danny Ings put a dent in his former club’s title aspirations with his early strike sealing a 1-0 win over Liverpool.
Former Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher has been appointed to the club’s first-team coaching staff.
Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman has described January as ‘very important for our aspirations’ after his team won 1-0 at LaLiga basement boys Huesca in the first of four successive away games.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola considers the Benjamin Mendy issue closed after the full back admitted to hosting friends at his house on New Year’s Eve in a breach of coronavirus restrictions.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has played down the likelihood he will utilise the January transfer window to ease his problems in central defence.
Frank Lampard has acknowledged Chelsea can expect more ‘pain’ if he is allowed to complete his Stamford Bridge rebuilding work.
Manchester United, Leicester, Tottenham and Manchester City all won to keep things tight towards the top of the Premier League table.
AC Milan overcame the first-half dismissal of Sandro Tonali to win 2-0 at Benevento and bounce straight back to the top of Serie A, while Atletico Madrid top the standings in Spain.
Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne all struck in the first half as Manchester City thumped Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge to heap pressure on Frank Lampard.