Liverpool six points clear as City falter again

LIVERPOOL have taken advantage of another surprise slip-up from champions Manchester City to open up a sixpoint lead at the top of the English Premier League.

Liverpool beat Newcastle 4-0 at Anfield on Boxing Day and City were beaten 2-1 at Leicester, dropping them behind Tottenham, who went second after they thumped Bournemouth 5-0.

Dejan Lovren, Mo Salah, Xherdan Shaqiri and Fabinho scored as Liverpool maintained their unbeaten record at the season’s midway point. “We just focus on ourselves and it’s game by game for us,” Lovren said. “We need to keep this momentum and after the next couple of games we will see where we are.”

Lovren opened the scoring with a stunning half-volley from just inside the box on 11 minutes as Liverpool led 1-0 at halftime.

Salah scored from the spot after he was fouled by Paul Dummett, and Shaqiri and Fabinho completed the rout with late goals.

Manchester City suffered a second straight defeat, following their home loss to Crystal Palace, going down at Leicester. Bernardo Silva put the visitors in front but Marc Albrighton equalised and Ricardo snatched the winner nine minutes from time.

City’s setback allowed Tottenham to leapfrog them into second place after they smashed Bournemouth 5-0.

“Seven points to Liverpool is starting to be a lot, we are not playing as well as we want at this part of the season,” Silva said.

Brighton held Arsenal 1-1 to end a three-match losing run, and Chelsea beat Watford 2-1 with Eden Hazard passing a century of goals for the club.