David Silva sparkled for Manchester City with two goals in a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace that wiped out Chelsea’s lead at the top of the Premier League yesterday and added festive spice to the title race.

Manchester United’s pursuit of the table-toppers stalled with a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa, their first dropped points in seven games, as local rivals Manchester City came through an encounter with Palace that threatened to turn into a frustrating occasion.

Silva eased an increasingly tense atmosphere at the Etihad Stadium when he broke the deadlock shortly after half-time and then put an efficient victory to bed with his second goal soon after. Yaya Toure smashed home a late third.

The victory for City, who are having to cope without all their main strikers through injury, moved them level on 39 points with Chelsea, who visit Stoke City tomorrow, and ignited a title battle that had looked to be a one-horse parade.

Champions City trailed Chelsea by eight points in November, but have cranked into gear heading into the busy festive period, taking 22 points from a possible 24 in their last eight games.

United are seven points adrift and one in front of a West Ham United side who will occupy a coveted top-four spot at Christmas after a 2-0 home win over bottom club Leicester City.

For Manchester City’s billionaire owners, who have lavished funds on the team since their arrival, the sight of workhorse midfielder James Milner playing up front on his own in the face of an injury crisis may have prompted quizzical looks.

It seemed a largely fruitless tactic in a first half when the nearest City came to breaking the deadlock was a scooped effort from Pablo Zabaleta that bobbled wide, but the mounting tension was eased four minutes into the second half.

Zabaleta made a powerful burst into the area and cut the ball back for Silva, whose shot took a big deflection off a Palace defender before looping into the net.

City, who failed to have a shot on target in the first half, then looked a completely different animal and found a second goal 12 minutes later as Silva arrived at the near post to finish sharply with his left foot.

After Palace had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside, Toure ensured there would be no more nervy moments when he walloped in a powerful finish.

That left City boss Manuel Pellegrini to sing the praises of a team stripped of strikers Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic.

“It was a very good win,” he told BT Sport.

“A very good performance. I enjoyed the way the team worked the whole week, to work in a different way without strikers.”

Man. United had their recent charge halted at Villa Park, where Christian Benteke combined his wrecking ball power with a refined finish, holding off Jonny Evans to curl a stunning shot past David De Gea to give the hosts the lead after 18 minutes.

United boss Louis van Gaal had handed striker Radamel Falcao a rare start and was rewarded eight minutes into the second half.

The Colombian headed home an Ashley Young cross, but Villa held the visitors at bay despite having Gabriel Agbonlahor sent off.

Southampton beat Everton 3-0 to end a run of four successive league defeats, while Tottenham Hotspur kept up their pursuit of a top-four spot with a 2-1 home win against Burnley to move above Arsenal, who visit Liverpool this afternoon.

QPR striker Charlie Austin scored a superb hat-trick as they fought back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at home to West Bromwich Albion, but second-bottom Hull City’s troubles continued with a 1-0 home defeat by Swansea City.

• Bournemouth moved a point clear at the top of the Championship table with a 6-1 thrashing of lowly Blackpool. Matt Ritchie bagged a brace while Callum Wilson, Brett Pitman with a penalty, Marc Pugh and Harry Arter also hit the target. Middlesbrough went into the day only behind Bournemouth on goal difference but they were beaten 2-0 at Ipswich, with Daryl Murphy and Jay Tabb strikes pushing the Tractor Boys above their opponents and up to second place.

Results and standings

Premier League

Aston Villa 1
Benteke 18;
Man. United 1
Falcao 53;

HT: 1-0. Att: 41,273.
Red card: Agbonlahor (AV) 65.

Hull City 0
Swansea City 1
Ki 14;

HT: 0-1. Att: 21,913.

Man. City 3
Silva 49, 61; Toure 81;
Crystal Palace 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 45,302.

QPR 3
Austin 24p, 48, 86;
West Brom 2
Lescott 10; Varela 20;

HT: 1-2. Att: 17,560.

S’thampton 3
Lukaku 38og; Pelle 65; Yoshida 82;
Everton 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 31,475.

Tottenham 2
Kane 21; Lamela 35;
Burnley 1
Barnes 27;

HT: 2-1. Att: 35,681.

West Ham 2
Carroll 24; Downing 56;
Leicester City 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 34,977.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Chelsea	16	12	3	1	36	13	39
Man. City	17	12	3	2	36	14	39
Man. United	17	9	5	3	30	18	32
West Ham	17	9	4	4	29	19	31
S’thampton	17	9	2	6	28	13	29
Tottenham	17	8	3	6	22	23	27
Arsenal	16	7	5	4	28	19	26
Swansea	17	7	4	6	22	19	25
Newcastle	16	6	5	5	18	22	23
Everton	17	5	6	6	27	27	21
Liverpool	16	6	3	7	19	22	21
Aston Villa	17	5	5	7	11	21	20
Stoke City	16	5	4	7	18	21	19
West Brom	17	4	5	8	17	23	17
QPR	17	5	2	10	20	32	17
Sunderland	16	2	10	4	14	24	16
C. Palace	17	3	6	8	19	27	15
Burnley	17	3	6	8	12	26	15
Hull City	17	2	7	8	15	24	13
Leicester	17	2	4	11	15	29	10

Playing today
Liverpool vs Arsenal - 17.00
Newcastle vs Sunderland - 14.30

Tomorrow
Stoke City vs Chelsea - 21.00

Next fixtures

Boxing Day: 13.45 Chelsea vs West Ham. 16.00 Burnley vs Liverpool; Crystal Palace vs Southampton; Everton vs Stoke City; Leicester vs Tottenham; Man. United vs Newcastle; Sunderland vs Hull; Swansea vs Aston Villa; West Brom vs Man. City. 18.30 Arsenal vs QPR.

Top scorers in the Premier League
14 goals: Aguero (Man. City).
12 goals: Costa (Chelsea).
11 goals: Austin (QPR).
9 goals: Sanchez (Arsenal).
8 goals: Bony (Swansea), Pelle (Southampton).
7 goals: Berahino (West Brom), Cisse (Newcastle), Sakho (West Ham), Van Persie (Man. United).

The Championship
Blackburn 2 - Charlton 0
Blackpool 1 - Bournemouth 6
Cardiff City 2 - Brentford 3
Derby County 2 - Norwich City 2
Fulham 4 - Sheffield Wed. 0
Huddersfield 0 - Birmingham 1
Ipswich Town 2 - Middlesbrough 0
Nottm Forest 1 - Leeds 1
Reading 0 - Watford 1
Wigan 1 - Rotherham 2
Wolves 1 - Brighton 1

Standings: Bournemouth 42; Ipswich 41; Brentford 40; M’boro, Derby 39; Watford 38; Norwich, Blackburn 34; Wolves, N. Forest 31; Cardiff, Charlton 30; Fulham, Sheff. Wed., Birmingham 28; Bolton 26; Reading 25; Leeds, Rotherham, Huddersfield 24; Millwall 23; Brighton 19; Wigan 17; Blackpool 13.

League One
Barnsley 2 - Leyton Orient 0
Bradford City 1 - Scunthorpe 1
Coventry City 1 - Fleetwood 1
Crawley Town 1 - Port Vale 2
Crewe 1 - Bristol City 0
Gillingham 2 - Chesterfield 3
MK Dons 7 - Oldham 0
Peterborough 0 - Preston NE 1
Rochdale 2 - Notts County 2
Sheffield Utd 1 - Walsall 1
Swindon Town 0 - Doncaster 1
Yeovil Town 0 - Colchester 1

Standings: Bristol City 42; MK Dons, Swindon, Preston 41; Sheffield Utd 33; Rochdale, N. County 31; Peterborough, Bradford, Oldham 30; Chesterfield 28; Fleetwood, Walsall 27; Barnsley, Port Vale, Doncaster 26; Coventry 25; Scunthorpe 23; Gillingham, Crawley 22; Colchester, Yeovil 20; Leyton Orient, Crewe 19.

League Two
Accrington 1 - Wycombe 1
Wimbledon 0 - Mansfield 1
Bury 2 - York City2
Carlisle 2 - Northampton 1
Cheltenham 1 - Portsmouth 1
Hartlepool 1 - Oxford United 1
Luton Town 3 - Newport 0
Plymouth 3 - Dagenham 0
Shrewsbury 1 - Morecambe 0
Stevenage 1 - Exeter City 0

Standings: Wycombe Wanderers 42; Shrewsbury, Luton, Burton 40; Plymouth 37; Southend 35; Newport, Exeter 34; Bury 31; Morecambe, Accrington 30; Cambridge 29; Stevenage 28; Portsmouth, AFC Wimbledon 27; Mansfield 26; Oxford United, Cheltenham 25; Northampton 24; Dagenham, Carlisle United 21; York City 20; Tranmere Rovers 19; Hartlepool United 13.