April was a huge month for the Premier League, as we were reaching the business end of: the title race, the race for the top 4 and the race to avoid relegation. Manchester City went into April 1 point clear of Liverpool at the top of the table, but had 2 tough games against Tottenham and Manchester United ahead of them. City had a perfect league record during April and won all 5 of their games, including a 1-0 win over Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium, and a 2-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford. Liverpool kept up the pace with Manchester City and won all 4 of their Premier League games, including a 2-0 win over Chelsea at Anfield. The perfect record for both clubs meant that City maintained their place at the top of the table going into May, with Liverpool still only 1 point behind them.
It looked like the honeymoon period under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was over at Manchester United as United won only 1 of their 5 Premier League games in April, including defeats against: Wolves, Everton and Manchester City, as well as dropping points in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Old Trafford. As a result of their poor results during April, United found themselves 3 points behind the top 4. Chelsea on the other hand found themselves in a good position going into May, as despite winning only 2 of their 5 Premier League games in April, they were 2 points clear in fourth place, and 3 points clear of Manchester United in 6th. Tottenham were almost guaranteed a place in the top 4 at the end of April as they were 4 points clear of Arsenal in 5th place with 2 games remaining.
After losing 24 of their opening 33 Premier league games, Fulham became the second team to be relegated from the Premier League, with Huddersfield joining them.
April also produced some Premier League history, as during Southampton’s game with Watford at Vicarage Road on the 23rd of April, Shane Long scored the fastest goal in Premier League history as he put the Saints 1-0 up after 7.69 seconds. Despite the early goal, Southampton couldn’t celebrate the achievement with a win as they could only draw 1-1 with Watford.
Find below some of the key Premier League games that took place during April:
- Wolves 2-1 Manchester United
- Everton 1-0 Arsenal
- Liverpool 2-0 Chelsea
- Manchester City 1-0 Tottenham
- Everton 4-0 Manchester United
- Arsenal 2-3 Crystal Palace
- Wolves 3-1 Arsenal
- Manchester United 0-2 Manchester City
- Tottenham 0-1 West Ham (first away team to win at new stadium)
- Leicester City 3-0 Arsenal
- Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea