After being crowned world champions under the desert sun, Chelsea’s short trip through the storm to south London threatened to leave them drenched in reality.

For 89 minutes, a fairly miserable performance was mired in familiar problems as Thomas Tuchel’s attack toiled in vain and Romelu Lukaku’s presence wavered between inhibiting or anonymous.

But just as the clock was about to bleed into the red of stoppage time, Hakim Ziyech’s deft volley at the far post rescued all three points for Chelsea and prevented them from being plunged deeper into a top-four battle.

If Armstrong was ecstatic to end a drought running from April 4, 2021, Long stepped off the bench to top that sense of relief with his first touch.

Republic of Ireland striker Long’s last Premier League effort for Saints came in a 2-0 win over Aston Villa on February 22, 2020.

Wout Weghorst fired his first Premier League goal as relegation-threatened Burnley climbed off the bottom of the table with a resounding 3-0 success at Brighton.

Netherlands striker Weghorst – a £12million January signing from German club Wolfsburg following Chris Wood’s departure to Newcastle – set the Clarets on course for a first win in 12 top-flight games with a clinical finish.

Josh Brownhill’s deflected drive doubled the visitors’ advantage before Aaron Lennon’s second-half strike sealed a stunning scoreline at the Amex Stadium.

Emmanuel Dennis ended Watford’s three-month wait for a victory as Roy Hodgson celebrated his first win in charge on the road at Aston Villa.

The Hornets arrived at Villa Park in the midst of the longest current winless run in the Premier League, having picked up just two points in the 11 matches that followed November’s memorable win against Manchester United.

Hodgson replaced Claudio Ranieri during that bleak run and secured his first victory as Watford manager on Saturday afternoon as Dennis headed home a cross from Ismaila Sarr to seal a 1-0 triumph.

Mohamed Salah’s 150th Liverpool goal helped keep his side’s title challenge on track as they came from behind to beat Norwich 3-1 at Anfield.

Victory kept the pressure on leaders Manchester City ahead of their evening kick-off but more significantly it was the momentum it maintained in their pursuit which was crucial.

How significant this result – an eighth successive win in all competitions – is will only be known come May, but it felt like a season-defining moment when the Egypt international rolled home a gentle shot in the 67th minute to put the Reds ahead.

Some at Arsenal may call it “revenge”, but they should now have much bigger aims.

Earlier today Mikel Arteta’s young team emphasised the extent of their improvement with a 2-1 win over Brentford that was a far cry from the alarming 2-0 defeat that kicked off the season.

Thomas Frank’s team, still without Christian Eriksen, didn’t create anything like the same noise. They barely created anything at all, and should really start to worry about getting dragged into a relegation battle.

45+2 mins: Nothing the separate the teams at the break. Dejan Kulusevski puts Tottenham in front inside of five minutes and the visitors were holding City at bay for the next half an hour.

A mistake from goalkeeper Hugo Lloris saw him fumble Raheem Sterling’s cross back into the path of Ilkay Gundogan and City’s captain made no mistakes knocking it home.

45 mins: Two minutes of added time to play in the first half. City switch the play over to Sterling on the left and he weaves inside of Royal. Cristian Romero skips across to cover and nicks the ball off Sterling before he can shoot.

42 mins: There’s a stoppage after Kyle Walker bursts down the right wing. He squares the ball into the box and picks out Raheem Sterling. Sterling runs onto a first time shot but is met by Emerson Royal who blocks his effort and takes a knock to the head in the process.

39 mins: Tottenham look to have pushed slightly higher since the Man City goal and are trying to play it through midfield. They don’t manage it though and Ben Davies is called into action to boot the ball clear as City quickly move it into the Tottenham box.