The home side could even afford to see substitute Gabriel Jesus miss a penalty before Sterling bagged a late brace, taking the England international’s tally for the season to 15.
Christian Eriksen struck a late consolation but Tottenham, who will drop to seventh if Liverpool avoid defeat at Bournemouth on Sunday, were thoroughly outclassed on the road, meaning they have now claimed just one point from their last five away trips away from Wembley Stadium.
In the games played earlier, London clubs, Chelsea and Arsenal, struggled to lone goal wins in their respective encounters against Southampton and Newcastle United on Saturday.
Both teams had to rely on some form of individual brilliance to get the victories they got on Saturday.
It was Marcus Alonso that sealed victory for the Blues as his expertly taken late free-kick was enough to secure victory for Antonio Conte’s men.
Nigeria international, Victor Moses, was in action for 82 minutes before he made way for Davide Zappacosta.
Saturday’s outing was Moses’ 100th appearance for Chelsea across all competitions.
At the Emirates, Arsene Wenger also gave Nigeria’s Alex Iwobi a starter’s shirt and he was on for 72 minutes before Danny Welbeck was brought in as his replacement.
The winning goal for Arsenal was scored Mesut Ozil.
The German star struck with a tremendous effort in the 24th minute, and it proved enough for Arsenal to end their three-game winless streak and register a 10th successive victory over Newcastle in the process
Arsenal are also momentarily back in top-four on the log.
In the day’s earlier game, it was a bad outing for Wilfred Ndidi and his Leicester City teammates as they were pounded 3-0 by visiting Crystal Palace.
Saturday was Ndidi’s birthday, but he will sure want to forget the day as quickly as possible as he was given a rare red card during the game against The Eagles.
In the games played on Sunday, Liverpool made easy work of Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon to return to the Premier League top four.
Earlier on Sunday Manchester United held off a late fightback from West Brom to move back to within 11 points of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table.
England – Premier League December 16
Leicester City 0 – 3 Crystal Palace
Arsenal 1 – 0 Newcastle United
Brighton & Hove Albion 0 – 0 Burnley
Chelsea 1 – 0 Southampton
Watford 1 – 4 Huddersfield Town
Manchester City 4 – 1 Tottenham Hotspur
West Brom 1 – 2 Manchester United
Bournemouth 0 – 4 Liverpool
