Man City stay serene on wild night in EPL

The quickest goal of the season. A six-goal thriller featuring a sprinkle of Brazilian magic. A stunning late comeback.

It was a wild night of action in the Premier League. Except, that is, at Manchester City, whose march to the defence of their title couldn't be more serene.

City never lost control in a routine 2-0 win over Brentford that saw the champions open up a 12-point lead in the title race.

Control was what Tottenham lacked in conceding two late goals in a chaotic 3-2 loss at home to Southampton that damaged their top-four ambitions.

It was even more frantic and end-to-end in the 3-3 draw between Aston Villa and Leeds in which Philippe Coutinho took centre stage.

The Brazil playmaker scored one goal and set up two others to push Villa 3-1 ahead, only for Leeds to fight back for a draw to keep the team clear of relegation danger.

The other match of the night wasn't without incident, either, as Norwich scored inside 39 seconds - through Teemu Pukki - for the fastest goal scored this season in a 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace, for whom Wilfried Zaha scored a superb solo equaliser before missing a penalty.

It's 14 games unbeaten for Man City, who will now see if second-placed Liverpool can reduce the gap back down to nine points with a win over Leicester on Thursday. Liverpool have played two games fewer.

Riyad Mahrez, with his eighth goal in his last seven games for City, and Kevin De Bruyne, netting for the fourth straight home game in the league, were the scorers for the champions.

Mahrez converted a penalty in the 40th after Raheem Sterling was brought down, and De Bruyne stroked home a low finish into an unguarded net in the 69th after Sterling had a shot saved.

Southampton appeared to be driven by a sense of