Manchester City returned to the top of the Premier League — at least until Leicester City play Manchester United in the late match — when it beat Southampton 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium Saturday. Leicester, which started the day in first place, and United, which is second, kick off at the King Power Stadium at 1730GMT and whoever wins that will go top in place of City. City, thrashed 4-1 at home by Liverpool last week, took an early grip with a tap-in from Kevin de Bruyne and a shot from the edge of the box from Fabian Delph inside the opening 20 minutes before Shane Long headed in for Saints soon after halftime. Aleksandar Kolarov added the third after 69 minutes as City moved on to 29 points from 14 matches, one more than Leicester and two more than United. With fourth-placed Arsenal and fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur not playing until Sunday, Crystal Palace closed the gap on the leaders when it thrashed struggling Newcastle United 5-1 at Selhurst Park after Newcastle scored first through Papiss Cisse after 10 minutes. Palace, which had slipped back to 10th after a good start to the season, responded with two goals from Yannick Bolasie, two from James McArthur and one from Wilfried Zaha to send Newcastle back into the relegation zone. Newcastle has 10 points, the same as Bournemouth who staged a dramatic comeback after trailing 2-0 to Everton then 3-2 with only seconds of stoppage time left before Junior Stanislas equalized with a header to make it 3-3. Ramiro Funes Mori and Romelu Lukaku had put Everton 2-0 ahead before Adam Smith and Stanislas scored to make it 2-2. Ross Barkley put Everton 3-2 up after five minutes of additional time before Stanislas's late goal saved a point for the home side. Despite those heroics, Bournemouth has now gone eight games without a win and remains in the relegation zone on 10 points with Newcastle and Aston Villa, which has only five points and has lost 11 of its 14 games, beneath it. Villa lost 3-2 at home to Watford after 10 minutes of stoppage time at Villa Park following a long delay to treat Watford's goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes who suffered a head injury. Sunderland climbed out of the relegation zone with its second win this week, following up Monday's 1-0 victory at Palace with a 2-0 win over Stoke City which had Ryan Shawcross sent off in the second half. Liverpool FA Cup hero Byrne dies at 77 Former England defender Gerry Byrne, who won two league titles with Liverpool and played with a broken collarbone when it won the FA Cup for the first time in 1965, has died aged 77, the club announced Saturday. Byrne made 333 appearances for Liverpool who won the league title in 1964 and 1966 and he also gained an FA Cup winners' medal in 1965 when Liverpool beat Leeds United 2-1. Despite breaking his collarbone in the third minute of the match in the last season before substitutes were allowed in England, he played on and made the cross for Liverpool's first goal. "The Liverpool-born defender was a model of consistency at left-back under Bill Shankly and a testament to his popularity was evident as 40,000 supporters were at Anfield for his testimonial in April 1970," Liverpool said on their website (www.liverpoolfc.com). He was a non-playing member of England's World Cup winning squad in 1966 and was presented with a winners' medal at Downing Street in 2009 after a change of FIFA policy. He won two England caps. — Reuters
