Tottenham, Liverpool draw to remain tied on top
TOTTENHAM and Liverpool remain tied at the top of the Premier League after both were held to 1-1 draws at Crystal Palace and Fulham respectively, while Pierre-Emerick Aubamyeng’s own goal condemned Arsenal to another shocking home defeat, going down 1-0 to Burnley on Sunday.
Leicester took advantage of slip ups by the top two to close to within one point of the leaders as James Maddison scored twice in a 3-0 rout over Brighton and Southampton are up to fourth as they also comfortably saw off Sheffield United 3-0.
Liverpool and Tottenham face each other at Anfield on Wednesday and, after Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United failed to win on Saturday, they both missed the chance to open up a gap at the top in the title race.
The champions needed a Mohamed Salah penalty 11 minutes from time to avoid an embarrassing defeat at Fulham after a dreadful first-half performance left Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp seething on the touchline.
“We needed half an hour to get our feet in the game, that’s why I shouted a bit at them,” said Klopp.
“I think in the first half an hour we could have lost the game, in the last 60 minutes we should have won it. In the end we get a point and that’s it.”
Bobby DeCordova-Reid’s thunderous finish into the far corner to take the lead was no more than Scott Parker’s side deserved as the returning Alisson Becker kept Liverpool in the game before the break.
Liverpool dominated the second-half to pin Fulham back but needed a penalty to salvage a point when Aboubakar Kamara was penalised for handling Georginio Wijnaldum’s free-kick.
Salah slammed the penalty low and just beyond the grasp of Alphonse Areola, but Fulham comfortably saw out the final 10 minutes to the delight of 2,000 fans at Craven Cottage.
Tottenham pegged back
Palace could also count on the return of fans to Selhurst Park for the first time in nine months to inspire a secondhalf fightback against Tottenham.
Harry Kane opened the scoring thanks to a goalkeeping howler from Vicente Guaita as he misjudged the England captain’s long-range effort.
Spurs then sat on their lead and failed to hold out for a sixth consecutive Premier League clean sheet when Hugo Lloris failed to hold Eberechi Eze’s free-kick and Jeffrey Schlupp swept home the rebound.
“We lost t wo points,” sa id Spurs coach Jose Mourinho. “From 45 to 75 minutes, we cou ld n’t play or bui ld f rom the back, and we made lots of mista kes.”
Guaita then redeemed himself with a pair of outstanding saves to deny Kane and Eric Dier as Spurs suddenly found their attacking thrust again after the equaliser.
At the other end of the table, Arsenal are now just five points above the relegation zone after a s el f - i nfl i cted defeat to Burnley.
Granit Xhaka’s needless red card for grabbing Ashley Westwood by the throat turned the game in Burnley’s favour before Aubameyang flicked Westwood’s corner into his own net 17 minutes from time.
“Again, we throw the game away with a silly red card,” said Arteta, who described Nicolas Pepe’s sending-off against Leeds last month as “unacceptable.”
“It’s the same word (unacceptable), and in these conditions, where we are not winning football matches, even worse.”
The Gunners failed to score from open play for the seventh time in eight games as Burnley held on for their first ever win over Arsenal in the Premier League to move out of the relegation zone.
Leicester defeat Brighton in easy win
Leicester edged out Southampton for the performance of the weekend as the Foxes blew Brighton away inside 45 minutes at the King Power.
Maddison was back to his best after a series of injury problems with two brilliant finishes either side of Jamie Vardy’s 12th goal of the season.
Southampton are just two points off the top and face troubled Arsenal next as goals from Che Adams, Stuart Armstrong and Nathan Redmond wrapped up their fifth victory in the last seven games.
“I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t continue what we’re doing at this moment,” said Southampton manager Ralph Hassenhuttl.
Bottom of the table United remain without a win this season, having lost 11 of their 12 games to leave them staring relegation in the face.