Everton gave Man City a good seeing to; while United and Liverpool battled out a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford. Three of the bottom four teams, Swansea, Sunderland & Palace continued to struggle, suffering heavy defeats. Hull City being the exception having put inconsistent Bournemouth to the sword.
Talking of inconsistent teams, goal-shy Southampton followed up their competent albeit narrow score victory over Liverpool in the League Cup semi-final first leg with a less than clinical display at Turf Moor, where Joey Barton scored the winner for Burnley on his return to the PL.
In the European Leagues, Roma keep up the pressure on Serie A leaders Juve with a narrow win at Udinese. 40 year old Totti came on as a sub for Roma, thereby 'totting' up an appearance in each 25 calendar year since his debut in 1993. In La Liga leaders Real Madrid are a point ahead of Sevilla despite their 40 game unbeaten run coming to an end with a 2-1 loss in Andalucía, with Barca in third place. Real also have a game in hand.
Forthcoming Wilkie Tours hosts Elche are in the bottom half of the Spanish second (Segunda) division where runaway leaders Levante, from Valencia, look to be heading for a swift return to the top division.
Morgan Schneiderlin has joined Everton after warming the bench for most of his time at Old Trafford. However, the January transfer window is unlikely to warm up until the last days of the month, possibly the last few hours.