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Mesut Özil is almost single-handedly driving Arsenal to title contention

Plus scores, highlights and other stories from Monday in the Premier League.

By Kim McCauley
Ian Walton/Getty Images

Table-toppers Manchester City and Leicester City don't play until Tuesday, and they got some mixed news during Monday's big slate of games. Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur were victorious, but Manchester City, Crystal Palace and Watford all managed to drop points. The title and top four races don't look any less wide-open than they did after Boxing Day.

Monday's scores

Crystal Palace 0-0 Swansea City
Everton 3-4 Stoke City
Norwich City 2-0 Aston Villa
Watford FC 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur
West Bromwich Albion 1-0 Newcastle
Arsenal 2-0 AFC Bournemouth
West Ham United 2-1 Southampton
Manchester United 0-0 Chelsea

Xherdan Shaqiri scored one of the best goals of the season

Don't you say that he tried to cross and mishit it. Don't. He meant every bit of this and I will not listen to any other arguments.

This was just one of seven goals in the best match of the day, and far from the only great one. The winner was a penalty, but all six of the other goals between Stoke and Everton were absolute class. Catch a replay of this one if you can.

Mesut Özil is ridiculous

One assist off a corner, two more corners that led to shots and five other passes leading to shots in the box. If a player creates half that in a game, he's had an absolutely brilliant match. And on top of this, Özil scored a goal against Bournemouth, as well. He's giving Riyad Mahrez a run for his money in the player of the season battle.

Özil's 16 assists are only two behind the 18 that Cesc Fabregas put up during all of last season and more than anyone tallied in the previous two years before that. Check out this piece by Michael Caley about his statistical greatness.

The goalkeepers were the only decent part of Manchester United vs. Chelsea

If you missed the big game of the day, good for you! It was awful. Both teams struggled to put coherent attacks together and most of it was played between the boxes. Chelsea, even though they need title-winning form from here to climb back into a European place, decided to play for a draw late. Wayne Rooney had a couple of awful misses. Nemanja Matic had the worst miss off the game. It wasn't great to watch.

But all of the shots that did hit the target were good ones, and forced the goalkeepers into big saves. Thibaut Courtois and David De Gea were both flawless and the best two players on the pitch by far.

Andy Carroll's hair inspired him to greatness

Guess who scored the winner for West Ham against Southampton? This guy.

JUMPING BACKHEEL NUTMEG

Son Heung-Min will probably remember this as one of the best goals of his career. With Tottenham pushing desperately for a winner against 10-man Watford, Son came up huge with this incredible finish. Someone give Gomes a hug.

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