Man City's freefall continues; second-placed Chelsea drop points

MANCHESTER, England : Champions Manchester City continued their slide down the Premier League standings with a 1-1 draw with Everton on Thursday, while Nottingham Forest moved up to third with a 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

Fulham came from behind to put a dent in Chelsea's title hopes with a 2-1 win, Newcastle United crushed 10-man Aston Villa 3-0, and West Ham United edged Southampton 1-0 to spoil new Saints manager Ivan Juric's first game in charge.

Pep Guardiola's City saw Bernardo Silva sweep home in the 14th minute but Iliman Ndiaye levelled before Erling Haaland missed a penalty, leaving City with just one victory to show for their last 13 matches across all competitions.

City tumbled to seventh in the table, and potentially to eighth by day's end with leaders Liverpool set to host lowly Leicester City in the late game on Boxing Day.

"Incredible how (City players) run and fight and do everything. Some games have not been good, but today, the case was it was well played," Guardiola said.

"But football is about winning, football is about you score goals and you don't concede. The last month, month and a half, we are not able to do it."

FOREST'S MARCH UP TABLE CONTINUES

Nottingham Forest continued their challenge for a top-four spot as Anthony Elanga's first-half goal secured a win over Spurs to put them third.

Elanga completed a superb Forest counter-attack in the 28th minute to settle a contest that Tottenham ended with 10 men after former Forest player Djed Spence was sent off.

The result moved Forest provisionally to third, while Tottenham's fourth defeat in five Premier League games left them in 11th.

"There's no harm in looking (at the table) and seeing how well you are doing," Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson