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Five talking points from this weekend's Premier League action

:Headline: Five talking points from this weekend's Premier League action: ID:438268: from db_amp
Liverpool's bad run continues as their home win search goes on and Manchester City are human after all.

Liverpool's worst ever home top flight run continued in defeat to Fulham, while Manchester United halted Manchester City's 21-match winning streak.

Fulham continue to be upwardly mobile, Newcastle slip into the relegation fight and Brighton's bad luck goes on.

Here, the PA news agency looks at five things we learned from the weekend's Premier League action.

Liverpool's season descends into crisis

Jurgen Klopp puffed out his cheeks and spent several seconds searching for any words before he began his first answer in his Sky Sports interview after Liverpool's 1-0 home defeat to Fulham. The Reds have now lost six Premier League games on the spin at home, and all while attempting to defend their league title. Klopp's men are at least still alive and kicking in the Champions League, with a 2-0 lead over RB Leipzig ahead of Wednesday's last-16 second leg clash. At Anfield in the league right now though, Klopp and his players simply have no answers. Fulham deserved their win and Roy Keane was not adding any of his usual pantomime anger when branding their plight a "crisis".

Pep's City are human after all

Manchester United looked tired and insipid in successive goalless draws against Chelsea and Crystal Palace. But when the derby came around, and with Pep Guardiola's City chasing a 22nd league win on the bounce, suddenly Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men came to life. Luke Shaw drilled a deserved goal to add to Bruno Fernandes' early penalty, as City's dazzling run came to an end. Guardiola's side will surely still claim the title, but for once their usual poise in front of goal eluded them. Here also was another indicator of United's progress under Solskjaer. Second and deservedly so, United have built steadily across the second half of this campaign with Solskjaer cementing his position all the while.

Fulham are heading in the right direction

Scott Parker is close to getting Fulham out of the relegation zone (Phil Noble/PA)

Scott Parker has instilled new belief in Fulham with the 1-0 win at Liverpool meaning they are only in the bottom three on goal difference. As clubs above them have faltered the Cottagers have maintained the belief they will beat the drop. Mario Lemina's goal and a clean sheet meant they were the latest side to leave Anfield with the points at the expense of the Premier League champions. As the season enters the business end Parker will be looking to maintain the momentum as his side look to avoid the drop back into the Championship.

Newcastle sink further into the mire

Steve Bruce remains convinced he can steer Newcastle to Premier League safety (Michael Steele/PA)

Steve Bruce surely thought he had steered Newcastle past the worst of the fallout from the training ground bust-up with Matt Richie. Newcastle might have laboured to a goalless draw at West Brom, but the point maintained United's status quo – well, all until Fulham downed Liverpool at Anfield. Suddenly a solid but uninspiring Sunday turned into another worrisome weekend for Bruce and the Magpies. Newcastle's final-day trip to Fulham has looked like a relegation decider for some time. On current form, however, Fulham could already be safe by that point. Right now, not too many would be predicting the same of Newcastle.

Brighton's bad luck an even worse sign

Graham Potter has bemoaned Brighton's recent spate of bad luck (Nick Potts/PA)

Leicester kept their top-four bid on track with a last-gasp 2-1 win at Brighton on Saturday. Seagulls boss Graham Potter was left to bemoan yet more bad luck for his side, with Brighton sitting just above the relegation zone. Whatever the performance levels and attractive football, when it comes to the crunch too often it is the teams left cursing their luck that fall through the trap door. Brighton are now on a run of six games without a win, with their last league victory coming in the 1-0 triumph over Liverpool at Anfield on February 3.

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Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool108111961325
2Manchester CityMan City1072121111023
3Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest10541147719
4Chelsea105322012818
5Arsenal105321711618
6Aston Villa105321715218
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs1051422111116
8Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton104421714316
9Fulham104331413115
10Bournemouth104331312115
11Newcastle UnitedNewcastle104331010015
12Brentford104151920-113
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd10334912-312
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham103251319-611
15Leicester CityLeicester102441418-410
16Everton102351017-79
17Crystal Palace10145813-57
18Ipswich TownIpswich100551021-115
19Southampton10118719-124
20Wolverhampton WanderersWolves100371427-133
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