Kevin De Bruyne came back to haunt his old club as his fine strike handed Premier League leaders Manchester City a 1-0 win over Chelsea on Saturday.
Against no side has De Bruyne scored more Premier League goals than he has against the Blues (five), with this total the most against Chelsea by any player who has previously played for them in the competition.
Elsewhere, Manchester United threw away a two-goal lead at Aston Villa to draw 2-2, with Philippe Coutinho sealing a point on his debut following his loan move from Barcelona.
Wolves beat Southampton 3-1 and Norwich City piled the pressure on Rafael Benitez with a 2-1 win over Everton, while strugglers Newcastle United and Watford played out a 1-1 draw.
Here, Stats Perform unpacks the pick of the Opta data from another eventful day in the Premier League.
Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea: De Bruyne edges Guardiola's men closer to the title
City's seemingly unstoppable march towards the Premier League title continued with a 12th straight top-flight win.
It marked the ninth run of 12 or more victories in the competition's history, with Pep Guardiola's side now responsible for four of those.
The decisive goal came from Kevin De Bruyne, the Belgium international superbly whipping into the bottom-right corner from distance with 20 minutes remaining.
De Bruyne has scored 21 Premier League goals from outside the penalty area – the most of any player since his first season with City (2015-16), and the joint-most of any Citizens player in the competition's history (level with Sergio Aguero).
Chelsea scarcely landed a blow on their hosts, failing to register a single shot in the first half. Indeed, they had just seven touches in City's penalty area – their fewest in a single Premier League match since January 2015 (also seven vs Man City).
Aston Villa 2-2 Manchester United: Red Devils squander two-goal lead
A stirring late fight back from Villa meant United failed to win a Premier League away game in which they led by 2+ goals for the first time since January 2016 against Newcastle (3-3).
Bruno Fernandes' opener was the first Premier League goal United have scored from a set piece situation this season (excluding penalties), before the Portugal international doubled their advantage in the second period.
Since making his United debut in February 2020, only Mohamed Salah (45) and Harry Kane (34) have scored more Premier League goals than Fernandes (33), while only James Ward-Prowse (seven) has scored more goals from outside the box in the competition during this period than the Portuguese (six).
Jacob Ramsey inspired a memorable comeback, though, the 20-year-old becoming the first Villa player to both score and assist against United in a single Premier League game since John Carew in April 2009, and the third-youngest player to do it against the Red Devils in the Premier League overall after Kelechi Iheanacho in September 2016 and Harry Kewell in November 1998.
Coutinho ensured the points were shared in what was his first Premier League appearance in 1477 days (for Liverpool vs Leicester City in December 2017).
Norwich City 2-1 Everton: Idah gets off the mark to put Benitez on the brink
The Canaries kick-started their bid for survival with a second win in six Premier League home games under Dean Smith – as many as they managed in their final 21 home games in the competition under previous manager Daniel Farke.
There were just 92 seconds between Michael Keane's own goal and Adam Idah's first Premier League strike, the hosts scoring as many times inside the opening 18 minutes as they had in their previous eight top-flight matches combined (one).
Idah's goal was his first in 27 Premier League appearances, while it was his first league goal since May 2021, when he scored in Norwich's final game of the Championship season.
The result meant Everton, who pulled one back through Richarlison, have won just 19 points from their 19 league games this season. Only twice previously have they had fewer at this stage of a Premier League campaign (17 in 1997-98 and 2005-06) and it looks as though Benitez's time may be up.
Wolves 3-1 Southampton: Traore off the mark as hosts' fine season continues
Wolves completed a top-flight double over Southampton for the first time since 1971-72, as well as winning three in a row against Saints in the top tier for the first time since October 1970.
Raul Jimenez and Conor Coady put them 2-0 up before the hour mark, with the latter's three Premier League goals coming from just four shots on target in 134 appearances.
Saints captain James Ward-Prowse scored his 12th direct free-kick goal in the Premier League to reduce the deficit – a haul bettered only by David Beckham (18).
However, Adama Traore's first goal in 22 top-flight appearances ensured Wolves picked up 31 points from their first 20 games of the season – their best return at this stage of a top-flight campaign since 1979-80 (also 31 points) when they finished in sixth place.
Kidderminster lose again as Barnet take the win
First-half goals from Anthony Hartigan and Callum Stead put Barnet on the path to a 2-1 victory over Kidderminster to deepen the Harriers’ woes.
Rock-bottom of the Vanarama National League and nursing a four-match losing run, Kidderminster stumbled out of the traps as Hartigan put the Bees ahead with an excellent free-kick that found the top corner.
Kidderminster might have had an instant response but Alex Penny’s volley whistled over the bar before Stead grabbed his first Barnet goal when he headed home from close range after 27 minutes.
The hosts gave themselves hope when Krystian Pearce nodded in from Joe Leesley’s cross in the 64th minute but they could find no way through again and Barnet held on for their second win of the week.
Richard Hill leads Eastleigh to victory at Halifax by the odd goal in five
Richard Hill’s latest stint as manager of Eastleigh started with a 3-2 victory at Halifax in the Vanarama National League.
The Hampshire club opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 19th minute, with Chris Maguire sending Sam Johnson the wrong way and finding the bottom corner, after Paul McCallum had been fouled.
McCallum tapped in a loose ball to double the Spitfires’ advantage in the 54th minute and completed his double, following good work from Enzio Boldewijn, with 17 minutes to go.
Florent Hoti scored with 11 minutes remaining to give the hosts hope and with three minutes remaining Jordan Keane headed in a corner to reduce the deficit to one – but that was as far as Halifax’s comeback was to go.
Troubled Reading earn precious point with goalless draw against Burton
Troubled Reading gained the welcome boost of a precious point with a goalless League One draw against fellow strugglers Burton.
Reading – who were deducted four points this season for various financial breaches – dominated for most of a scrappy contest as Burton were grateful to goalkeeper Max Crocombe for a series of fine saves.
For the second home game running, Reading fans staged a protest against controversial Chinese owner Dai Yongge by throwing tennis balls on to the pitch in the 16th minute.
After a 10-minute delay, during which the players returned to the dressing-rooms, referee Sam Purkiss restarted the game.
In a poor first period – before and after the enforced break – neither side were able to create any clear-cut openings.
Joe Powell blazed the ball well off target for Burton early on while, for the hosts, Charlie Savage curled a long-range effort narrowly over.
Femi Azeez went closer with a firmly-struck attempt in first-half stoppage time but the ball was smartly saved by Crocombe.
Reading were comfortably superior after the interval, with Crocombe forced into action to save a thunderous shot from Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan.
And as the hosts desperately sought a late winner, Crocombe made a superb double stop to first deny Ehibhatiomhan and then Azeez on the follow-up.
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