- Elsewhere on the day, Newcastle stormed back from two goals down to edge Everton by a goal in a captivating five-goal thriller, Cardiff beefed up their survival hopes with an impressive 2-0 home victory over lacklustre West Ham, and Huddersfield ...
Raheem Sterling's quick-fire second-half hat-trick sent Manchester City four points clear at the top of the Premier League on Saturday with their closest competition Liverpool waiting to take their turn on the field on Sunday against Burnley FC.
Relegation-wary Southampton eased some of their concerns with two goals in five minutes to leave Tottenham’s top-four hopes in a nosedive with the now rejuvenated United, who will take on Arsenal on Sunday threatening for the third spot. Brendan Rodgers secured his first home win as Leicester pushed Fulham closer to the exit with a 3-1, and despite dominating in almost all the statistical columns, Crystal Palace lost a second straight at home in as many outings as fellow relegation wary side, Brighton, stung them by two goals to one at home.
Vardy was clinical as he guided the ball past Fulham goalkeeper Sergio Rico and into the net for his 100th goal for the Foxes.
Elsewhere on the day, Newcastle stormed back from two goals down to edge Everton by a goal in a captivating five-goal thriller, Cardiff beefed up their survival hopes with an impressive 2-0 home victory over lacklustre West Ham, and Huddersfield all but sealed their looming relegation with a 2-0 home loss to Bournemouth.
And on Sunday, Liverpool maintained the pressure on Manchester City for the Premier League summit as they came from a goal down for the full points against struggling Burnley, Arsenal handed Manchester United a 2-0 shutout for the fourth spot, the first loss for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the league since taking over as interim manager, and Chelsea’s quest for a top-four finish took a rocky turn as they came from a goal down for a point against Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge.
Sunday
Liverpool 4-2 Burnley FC
Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane both scored twice as Liverpool recovered from conceding a controversial opener to beat Burnley 4-2 and close the gap on Manchester City to one point.
Burnley took the lead in the sixth minute when Ashley Westwood scored direct from a corner, with the ball flying over goalkeeper Alisson, who appeared to be impeded on the line.
Liverpool responded as Firmino scored from close range in the 19th minute and then Mane curled in with a fine first-time finish.
Firmino's second goal in the 67th minute gave the hosts breathing space, but Johann Berg Gudmundsson set up a nervy finish when he struck in injury-time. However, Mane replied to make sure of victory. Burnley are two points above the relegation zone.
Chelsea 1-1 Wolves
Eden Hazard's injury-time strike cancelled out Raul Jimenez's surprise opener as Chelsea drew 1-1 with Wolves on Sunday.
Jimenez broke the deadlock with the visitors' only shot on target, in the 56th minute with a heavily-deflected strike that crept over the line.
Chelsea tried to find a way through Wolves' resilient defence, and eventually they found an answer through Hazard's driven shot in injury time (90+2) to steal the hosts a point.
Wolves created a one-point lead over Watford in seventh place. Chelsea stay in sixth after seeing their three-game winning streak come to an end and hit a setback in the top-four race.
Arsenal 2-0 Manchester United
Arsenal seized the initiative in the race for the top four with a 2-0 victory over Manchester United that inflicted the first league defeat of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's tenure.
Granit Xhaka forced an uncharacteristic goalkeeping error from David de Gea as his swerving shot fired the Gunners in ahead inside 12 minutes before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's penalty made sure of the victory midway through the second half.
United hit the woodwork twice in the first half but there was a clear hangover from Wednesday's Champions League heroics in Paris as they suffered their first Premier League defeat since December 16.
Arsenal leapfrog United into fourth as a result of their ninth-successive home victory and move to within a point of third-place Tottenham as the top-four race intensifies with eight games to play.
Saturday
Crystal Palace 1-2 Brighton
Anthony Knockaert's second-half wonder strike saw Brighton beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at Selhurst Park to move level on points with their rivals.
Glenn Murray, who was only playing after Florin Andone was injured in the warm-up, opened the scoring after 19 minutes with his now customary goal against his former club.
The home team levelled matters five minutes into the second half after Davy Propper tripped Andros Townsend in the box, with Luka Milivojevic doing the rest from the spot.
However, Knockaert's breathtaking effort - just his second league goal of the season - won it for Brighton with 16 minutes to go, as Palace suffered an eighth league defeat at home this campaign.
Cardiff 2-0 West Ham
Junior Hoilett and Victor Camarasa were on target as Cardiff earned a crucial win in their survival battle, beating West Ham 2-0.
Hoilett converted Josh Murphy's low cross to open the scoring in the fourth minute as the West Ham defence stood statuesque, and Camarasa (52) doubled the lead from close range after a lovely cushioned header into his path from Murphy.
Oumar Niasse had the chance to make sure of the points soon after but shot wide after bursting through on goal, before being denied again when Lukasz Fabianski saved from point-blank range and then reacted to keep out Murphy's follow up.
Declan Rice came closest for West Ham when he hit the post with 20 minutes remaining, but the visitors offered little threat across the 90 minutes. Cardiff remain in the bottom three, two points from safety, following Southampton's win over Tottenham, while West Ham stay in ninth.
Huddersfield 0-2 Bournemouth
Callum Wilson starred in front of watching England manager Gareth Southgate as Bournemouth earned a 2-0 win at Huddersfield.
Making his first start since mid-January, Wilson chested home his 50th league goal for Bournemouth to break the deadlock with just 20 minutes on the clock
Then, to further enhance his chances of being in Southgate's squad for England's upcoming European Championship qualifiers, Wilson turned provider for Ryan Fraser, who stroked home Bournemouth's second in the 66th minute.
Huddersfield offered very little in resistance, the defeat sees them a colossal 16 points from safety at the foot of the table, while Bournemouth stayed 12th, nine clear of the bottom three.
Leicester 3-1 Fulham
Jamie Vardy reached a century of Leicester goals as relegation-threatened Fulham were beaten 3-1.
Youri Tielemans gave the hosts a deserved lead from Vardy's unselfish pass (21), but substitute Floyd Ayite hauled Fulham level in untidy fashion when his shot deflected in off Harry Maguire (51).
Leicester re-established their lead when Vardy was found by James Maddison to score his 100th goal for the Foxes (78), and the striker sealed the victory when he stroked in Harvey Barnes' cross with four minutes remaining.
The result moves Leicester above Everton into 10th position while Fulham remain 19th but are now 13 points adrift of safety.
Newcastle 3-2 Everton
Newcastle produced a rip-roaring comeback from 2-0 down to bulldoze Everton 3-2 and make it five wins on the spin at St James’ Park.
On Rafael Benitez's three-year anniversary as boss, Newcastle fell two behind at the break as Dominic Calvert-Lewin (18) and Richarlison (32) put Everton in control. Richarlison's effort came 71 seconds after Jordan Pickford saved a Matt Ritchie penalty after the goalkeeper hauled down Salomon Rondon with the goal gaping but survived a straight red card.
Fuelled by that apparent injustice, Benitez's men staged a remarkable second-half fightback with Rondon (65) and an Ayoze Perez double (81, 84) blitzing a crumbling Everton defence.
It takes Newcastle to the brink of Premier League safety as they move six points clear of the drop zone.
Southampton 2-1 Tottenham
Southampton stunned Tottenham with two quickfire goals in the second half as they won 2-1 at St Mary's to ease their relegation concerns.
Having been 1-0 down with 13 minutes remaining, Danny Rose's error allowed Yan Valery to equalise (77), before James Ward-Prowse curled in a fine free-kick to complete the turnaround (81).
After dominating early on and hitting the woodwork twice, Tottenham took the lead through Harry Kane's 200th goal for club and country, a neat finish into the bottom corner from 10 yards after Dele Alli's superb through ball (26), but no win in four in the Premier League means their top-four hopes are under threat.
The result means Southampton are 16th, two points clear of the drop zone, while Spurs stay third, just four points ahead of fifth-place Arsenal, who host Manchester United on Super Sunday.
Manchester City 3-1 Watford
Raheem Sterling scored a second-half hat-trick, including a controversial opener, as Manchester City beat Watford 3-1 to move four points clear in the title race on Saturday.
Sterling's first goal, 40 seconds after half-time, was initially ruled out for offside but after a long discussion, referee Paul Tierney overturned his own decision, with Daryl Janmaat's attempted block just before Sterling struck ruled as having played the winger onside.
There was nothing controversial about his second goal which arrived less than four minutes later, when Riyad Mahrez played the ball across the six-yard box and left it on a plate for him to slot home.
He made it three for the second Premier League hat-trick of his career just before the hour mark (59), showing superb composure to take David Silva's pass in his stride before riding two challenges and dinking the ball over Ben Foster. Watford remain 8th on 43 points.
EPL Week 30 Scores At A Glance
Crystal Palace 1-2 Brighton
Cardiff 2-0 West Ham
Huddersfield 0-2 Bournemouth
Leicester 3-1 Fulham
Newcastle 3-2 Everton
Southampton 2-1 Tottenham
Manchester City 3-1 Watford
Sunday
Liverpool 4-2 Burnley FC
Chelsea 1-1 Wolves
Arsenal 2-0 Manchester United