London: Manchester City and Liverpool drew 2-2 in the game of the week in the Premier League to see City keep their one-point lead over their rivals for this season’s title.
A thrilling game saw Pep Guardiola’s City open the scoring thanks to Kevin de Bruyne’s deflected shot in the fifth minute, although Liverpool needed just eight minutes to replay with Diogo Jota’s finish after good work from Trent Alexander Arnold and Andy Robertson on Sunday night.
Gabriel Jesus then ghosted in at the far post nine minutes before the break to put City back in front in a thrilling first half, Xinhua reports. The excitement continued after the break with Sadio Mane equalising almost directly from the kick-off and despite chances at both ends and Raheem Sterling seeing a goal ruled out for offside, it ended 2-2 to leave the title race still wide open.
Chelsea recovered from painful home defeats against Brentford and Real Madrid with a 6-0 win away to Southampton on Saturday afternoon.
Thomas Tuchel’s men, looking like a team with something to prove, were 3-0 up by the 21st minute with goals from Marcos Alonso, Mason Mount and Timo Werner. Kai Havertz added a fourth just after the half-hour and Werner and Mount doubled their tally in the 49th and 54th minutes before Chelsea eased up to save their legs for next Tuesday’s Champions League quarterfinal in Madrid.
Tottenham strengthened their claim for a top-four finish thanks to Heung Min Son’s hat-trick and some excellent first-half saves from Hugo Lloris that saw them win 4-0 away to Aston Villa.
Dejan Kulusevski also scored for Spurs, for whom Harry Kane was excellent despite not scoring.
Arsenal remain fifth, but lose ground after a shock 2-1 defeat at home to Brighton, who took a two-goal lead thanks to Leandro Trossard on 28 minutes and Enock Mwepu, before Martin Odegaard’s late consolation for Arsenal.
Anthony Gordon’s deflected first-half strike gave Everton three vital points in their battle against relegation against a hapless Manchester United, who are in real danger of not playing in Europe next season.
Everton’s win gained extra importance 24 hours later as the bottom of the table Norwich beat Burnley 2-0 at Carrow Road, with goals from Pierre Lees-Melou after nine minutes and Teemu Puuki in the 86th minute denying Burnley the chance to remain within a point of Everton.
Leeds United look safe from relegation after Raphinha, Rodrigo and Jack Harrison gave Jesse Marsch’s men a 3-0 away win to condemn Watford to an eighth successive home league defeat while lifting Leeds nine-points clear of the bottom three.
Brentford punished West Ham’s tired legs after Thursday’s European game against Olympique Lyon as they won their London derby 2-0.
Bryan Mbuemo and Ivan Toney scored second-half goals for Brentford, who dominated and are now safe from the drop after four wins in their last five matches.
Newcastle United can also breathe much easier after Chris Wood’s second-half penalty gave them a 1-0 win at home to Wolverhampton.
Finally, first-half goals from Ademola Lookman and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall helped Leicester City to a 2-1 win at home to Crystal Palace in a mid-table clash.
–IANS
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