LONDON: 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 Hotspur 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 United 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 City 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 with a scuffed effort that went well wide.

It’s 14 games unbeaten for Pep Guardiola’s City, who will now see if second-placed Liverpool can reduce the gap having played two games fewer.

City were held to a 1-1 draw at Southampton in their previous league game, but they got back on track thanks to Riyad Mahrez’s first half penalty and Kevin De Bruyne’s strike after the interval at the Etihad Stadium.

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.

“I’m very satisfied with the performance. It’s difficult when they defend deep with 10 players,” Guardiola said. “Liverpool have two games to play, then we see the gap. Everyone is tough competition, but it is impressive at this stage to have 60 points. We have done incredibly well.”

SPURS STUNNED BY SOUTHAMPTON

Southampton appeared to be driven by a sense of injustice in their comeback at Spurs after Son Heung-min’s goal in the 70th minute that put the hosts ahead. In the build-up, Emerson Royal looked to have fouled Armando Broja in the air and it led to some heated exchanges among players and coaches.

The visitors poured forward and after Mohamed Elyounoussi equalised with an 80th minute header from James Ward-Prowse’s cross, Che Adams headed in an almost identical goal for the winner in the 82nd.

Broja had earlier canceled out Tottenham’s opening goal that was scored by a Southampton player, as Jan Bednarek slid in deflect a cross into his own net under pressure from Son.

Tottenham remain seventh, four points adrift of fourth placed West Ham with three games in hand.

Fresh off scoring a brilliant long-range goal for Brazil last week, Coutinho pulled the strings for Villa in a whirlwind first half against Leeds where he cancelled out Dan James’ ninth-minute opener by scoring off his own low finish in the 30th.

The playmaker then provided the passes for goals by fellow midfielder Jacob Ramsey in the 38th and 43rd minutes, one of them a stunning defence-splitting through-ball after spinning free in the middle of the field.

But James reducing the deficit with a close-range header and Diego Llorente completed Leeds’ fightback after 63 minutes.

The draw edged Leeds six points clear of the relegation zone and denied Villa a place in the top half of the league.

Zaha went from the sublime to the ridiculous at Carrow Road.

In his first appearance for the club since Boxing Day, having played for Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations, Zaha cut inside and curled home from the edge of the area to equalise on the hour mark.

That canceled out Pukki’s goal — his first in more than 11 hours of play — but Norwich couldn’t hold on for a fourth straight win that would have lifted them out of the relegation zone. They could even have lost only for Zaha to scuff a tame penalty wide of the left post.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2022