Willian rides to Chelsea’s rescue against Liverpool

Chelsea rode their luck to salvage a 1-1 draw at Liverpool thanks to Willian's late leveller, while Manchester United cut Manchester City's Premier League lead to five points with a 1-0 win over Brighton.

Antonio Conte's Chelsea were five minutes away from suffering a major blow to their hopes of defending the title after falling behind to Mohamed Salah's opener at Anfield, but grabbed a point thanks to Willian's leveller yesterday.

"I saw a good reaction from my players despite long travel and little rest for them. They would not accept defeat," Conte said.

"It's not simple to play at Anfield. We tried to fight and tried to win."

Salah, who spent an unsuccessful spell with Chelsea from 2014 to 2016, returned to haunt his old team in the 65th minute.

Chelsea midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko miscued a clearance, giving Alex OxladeChamberlain the chance to prod the ball into Salah, who slotted a low finish past Thibaut Courtois.

It was Salah's sixth goal in his last five appearances -- and his 15th for Liverpool this season -- but he opted not to celebrate, apparently out of respect for the more than 300 Egyptians killed in a terror attack this week.

But just as the champions were facing their first defeat in five league games, in-form Willian came off the bench to rescue Chelsea with his 85th minute equaliser. The Brazil winger, who scored twice in the Blues' 4-0 Champions League win at Qarabag midweek, found space in the Liverpool penalty area for cross that he sliced and saw loop fortuitously over Simon Mignolet into the far corner.

While Chelsea finished the happier side, the draw did little to enhance either club's title prospects.

The third-placed Blues are eight points behind leaders Manchester City, who travel to Huddersfield today, while Liverpool remain fifth and sit 11 points off the top.

"I'm happy about the performance. It's a little bit more difficult when Chelsea played with eight defenders more or less," said Reds boss Jurgen Klopp.

"You need a bit of luck and we didn't have it again."

At Old Trafford, Jose Mourinho's United bounced back from their surprise Champions League defeat at Basel in midweek to win their 39th straight home game in all competitions and equal a 51year record set by Sir Matt Busby thanks to Lewis Dunk's second half own goal.

United made seven changes from the Basel loss and found it hard to break Brighton's stubborn resistence, before finally nabbing the crucial goal in the 56th minute, putting Mourinho's team just one game away from a club record 40 home wins in a row.