Fewer, though, would have predicted Liverpool losing their perfect home record against Burnley.

Certainly, the relegation picture looked a lot clearer on Saturday, with Norwich to return to the second-tier Championship after losing 4-0 to visitors West Ham United.

"From the first day after promotion, our chances to survive were perhaps 5 per cent, so in 19 out of 20 cases you will go down," Norwich manager Daniel Farke said.

That win for West Ham - achieved thanks to four goals by makeshift striker Michail Antonio - and Watford's come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Newcastle United pushed those two victorious teams six points clear of the relegation zone with three games left.

Bournemouth and Aston Villa, the teams in 18th and 19th place respectively, will need three wins from their remaining four matches to survive.

At the other end of the table, Liverpool have just records to chase after clinching a first league title in 30 years, and one of them fell by the wayside on Saturday.

The Reds will not become the first team in the Premier League era (since 1992) to win all of their home games in a single campaign, after a 1-1 draw with.

Meanwhile, Chelsea lost at Sheffield United 3-0 in a surprisingly one-side match.

The heavy defeat meant the third-placed Blues could be overtaken by both Leicester and Manchester United in the coming days in the race for Champions League qualification.

Manchester City recorded a thumping 5-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion with Raheem Sterling scoring a hat-trick past Socceroos goalkeeper Mat Ryan.

Players wore black armbands as games started with a minute's silence in a tribute to England's 1966 World Cup winner, Jack Charlton, who died on Friday aged 85.

Antonio knew after scoring his first goal that a big haul was on for him against Norwich.

"I could see that they were quite open, so it was a great opportunity," he said after his first career hat-trick.

Liverpool can still claim the record points haul by a team for a single season in the Premier League - held by Manchester City with its 100 from 2017-18 - with wins in their remaining games against Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle.

Andrew Robertson gave the Reds the lead at Anfield before Jay Rodriguez equalised on 69 minutes for Burnley.

"It was a draw but I cannot deny it feels like we completely lost the game," Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said.

City secured second place as they made it 23 goals in their past seven games.

Alongside Sterling's hat-trick, Gabriel Jesus and Bernardo Silva weighed in with goals at Brighton.

David McGoldrick scored twice - for his first goals of the season, finally - and Oli McBurnie added the other at Bramall Lane as Chelsea suffered a heavy loss to the Blades - who are now sixth.

Australian Associated Press