Liverpool notches derby conquest of Everton
Pulisic, Chelsea squeeze past West Ham • Man City keeps pace in title race • Arsenal goes fourth
LONDON (Reuters) – Liverpool closed the gap at the top of the Premier League standings to one point after a hard-fought 2-0 win over Everton in a feisty Merseyside derby on Sunday.
With Manchester City opening up a four-point lead over Liverpool at the top with a 5-1 demolition of Watford on Saturday, Jurgen Klopp’s side struggled to break down Everton in a bad-tempered first half at Anfield.
Everton continued to hold its own in a raucous derby atmosphere until, with the first shot on target from either side in the match, Scottish fullback Andy Robertson headed his team in front in the 62nd minute.
Demarai Gray then went within inches of a stunning equalizer before substitute Divock Origi finally ended all hope of an Everton comeback with a goal five minutes from time to put the game to bed.
A 12th win in their last 13 league games, which was much tougher to come by than many expected, moved Liverpool on to 79 points from 33 matches, one behind City, which must slip-up if Liverpool is to win back the Premier League crown.
Earlier, Chelsea tightened its grip on third place with a 1-0 victory over 10-man West Ham, with Christian Pulisic’s 90th-minute winner at Stamford Bridge making up for his teammate Jorginho’s missed penalty.
Substitute Pulisic arrived in the box at the right time to guide home a superb pass by Marcos Alonso shortly after Jorginho had wasted his chance from the spot, firing straight at West Ham ’keeper Lukasz Fabianski.
Also, stunning long-range goals in each half from captain James WardProwse helped Southampton rescue a
point at Brighton & Hove Albion with a 2-2 draw in an entertaining contest at the Amex Stadium.
At Turf Moor, Burnley climbed out of the relegation zone after Matej Vydra grabbed a 62nd-minute winner in a tense 1-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
In addition to Manchester City thrashing Watford, Saturday’s highlights featured Arsenal seizing the initiative in the battle for fourth spot.
Brazilian Gabriel Jesus scored four goals as City had applied pressure on chasing Liverpool ahead of the Reds’ Merseyside derby on Sunday against Everton.
Watford, meanwhile, suffered a fourth successive league defeat as its hopes of staying up receded.
Arsenal followed up its midweek win at Chelsea with a 3-1 home defeat of Manchester United to move into fourth place, ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, who could only draw 0-0 away to Brentford in the day’s late kickoff.
Nuno Tavares struck early for Arsenal with Bukayo Saka doubling the Gunners’ lead from the penalty spot.
A sluggish United finally woke up with Cristiano Ronaldo sweeping in Nemanja Matic’s cross and the Red Devils squandered
a chance to level when Bruno Fernandes hit the post from the penalty spot before Granit Xhaka made sure of the points for the hosts with a 70th-minute thunderbolt.
“It’s a big performance in a game that had everything. We created chances, we had to suffer, there were moments when we lacked energy and they were on top, we were efficient in the boxes, we had luck,” Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said.
“This is going to be a rollercoaster – today it went in our favor.”
The win took Arsenal into fourth spot, two points above Spurs, who were lackluster in a stalemate at Brentford for whom Ivan Toney was twice denied by the woodwork.
Sixth-place Manchester United, which announced late last week that Erik ten Hag would become the club’s new manager, suffered a fourth successive away defeat in the league and its chances of qualifying for the Champions League are dwindling.
“For me even before the game it wasn’t very likely, but after today’s result it’s gone, yes,” interim boss Ralf Rangnick, who faces a tough task in his final four games, said.
The title race is predicted to go right down to the wire and Man City made sure they retained the slight edge as they swept Watford aside at The Etihad Stadium.
Jesus struck twice in the opening 24 minutes to put City in control but Watford briefly threatened to make a game of it as French defender Hassane Kamara halved the deficit.
A stunning strike from Spain international Rodri restored City’s two-goal advantage in the 34th minute before Jesus completed his first Premier League hat-trick early in the second half after converting from the penalty spot.
The 25-year-old tapped home his fourth in the 53rd minute from Kevin De Bruyne’s pass to complete the rout and City took its foot off the gas ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League semifinal first-leg against Real Madrid.
“We have one month of the season to go, we need players like Gabriel,” City manager Pep Guardiola said.
Time is running out for bottom club Norwich City who look destined for a quick return to the second-tier Championship after a 3-0 home defeat by in-form Newcastle United.
Newcastle’s Brazilian contingent fired Eddie Howe’s side up to ninth place with Joelinton scoring a brace and Bruno Guimaraes also on target at Carrow Road.
While Newcastle is on the up and up, Norwich is now eight points from safety with five matches left to play.