Premier League weekend talking points

Talking points from the weekend's Premier League action:

RONALDO DOES IT AGAIN

Once again Manchester United put in a below-par performance. Once again they needed David de Gea saves to bail them out, and once again Cristiano Ronaldo came to the rescue with a hat-trick in a 3-2 win over Norwich City on Saturday.

The evergreen forward scored the 60th hat-trick of his professional career for club and country (50th at club level), and has now scored 20 or more goals in all competitions in each of his last 16 seasons at club level, a run starting back in 2006-07 with United.

Ronaldo's exploits, however, masked more United difficulties on a day when fans voiced their discontent when protesting against the club's owners pre-match, and during the game itself, booing the players and singing "you're not fit to wear the shirt".

"I don't think we need to talk about Cristiano's performance today, another hat-trick made the difference once again," United coach Ralf Rangnick said.

"But we need to raise our own level and standard."

ARSENAL LOSE MORE GROUND IN RACE FOR TOP FOUR

A victory for Arsenal against Southampton would have moved them level on points with rivals Tottenham Hotspur but they fell to a 1-0 defeat at St Mary's Stadium and allowed Manchester United back into the race for the final Champions League spot.

Following similarly lacklustre displays at Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace, Arteta's side have slipped to sixth after losing three games on the bounce, scoring only once. They had lost only two of their previous 13.

Arsenal still have a game in hand over Spurs but with tough games against Chelsea, Manchester United and West Ham United coming up in the next fortnight, Saturday's 1-0 defeat by Southampton will go down as