Leicester spurred on in title drive
Tottenham’s tie with Liverpool provides a huge assist to the upstart English Premier League leader
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND — On a day Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea swept to 4-0 victories in the English Premier League, Leicester was the biggest winner of all.
Leicester, the unlikely league leader, doesn’t play until Sunday but was given a boost in its astonishing title challenge when second-place Tottenham was held to a 1-1 draw at Liverpool.
Leicester will move seven points clear with six games left with a win over Southampton at home.
“We need to believe. Leicester deserves to be in the place they are, but in football anything can happen,” Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said.
Harry Kane’s 63rd-minute equalizer earned Spurs a point and moved him to 22 league goals this season.
Twenty-seven goals were scored over eight games on a day England’s major powers flexed their muscles.
Alexis Sanchez and Alex Iwobi assisted each other for first-half goals to set Arsenal on its way to a victory over Watford that cemented third place. Hector Bellerin and Theo Walcott grabbed the other goals.
Iwobi took most of the plaudits, with the 19-year-old Nigerian scoring for the second straight game.
Man City has struggled away from home, but was a comfortable winner at Bournemouth, with Kevin De Bruyne scoring in his return after a two-month injury layoff and Sergio Aguero heading in his 22nd goal of the season. Aleksandr Kolarov added a late fourth.
Fourth-place City moved three points ahead of West Ham, which drew 2-2 with Crystal Palace after conceding a 75th-minute equalizer soon after going down to 10 men after Cheikhou Kouyate’s red card. Dwight Gayle, the player Kouyate fouled, netted the equalizer.
Earlier, Dimitri Payet enhanced his status as a set-piece maestro by curling a free kick into the top corner for West Ham, his third goal from a free kick in his last four matches.
Manchester United could leapfrog West Ham into sixth by beating Everton Sunday.
At the bottom, Newcastle slipped six points adrift of safety after conceding an injury-time goal to lose at relegation rival Norwich 3-2.
Chelsea thrashed last-place Aston Villa 4-0, with Alexandre Pato scoring in his debut after coming on as a substitute. Ruben Loftus-Cheek opened the scoring and Pedro Rodriguez scored the other goals.