Liverpool cruises back to top of league table; Man United continues surge
LONDON: Liverpool needed an afternoon to calm its English Premier League title jitters after a couple of stumbles and, thanks to an obliging Bournemouth side, it got its wish as a 30 victory lifted it back to the top of the table.
Goals by Sadio Mane and Georginio Wijnaldum before the break and another for Mohamed Salah three minutes after it allowed Liverpool to finish the match in cruise control.
It put Juergen Klopp’s side three points above Manchester City, although the champion had a chance to reclaim top spot if it beat Chelsea at home this morning.
Manchester
United’s staggering surge showed no sign of slowing down as it beat secondbottom Fulham which sank even deeper into relegation trouble.
French midfielder Paul Pogba scored twice while Anthony Martial was also on target as United made it 10 wins and a draw in the 11 matches since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer became interim manager after Jose Mourinho’s sacking.
The win lifted United into fourth spot on 51 points.
Cardiff City ended another traumatic week by securing a vital 21 victory at fellow relegation strug gler Southampton.
Days after it was confirmed that the body of Emiliano Sala, the club’s new signing from Nantes, had been recovered from a plane that vanished over the English Channel, Cardiff was boosted by Kenneth Zohore’s lastgasp winner which lifted the Welsh club out of the bottom three.
Arsenal maintained its topfour push with a 21 victory at rockbottom Huddersfield Town, its first away win in the league since November secured by goals from Alex Iwobi and Alexandre Lacazette.
The problems mounted for Everton manager Marco Silva as his side went down 10 to his old club, Watford, at Vicarage Road and had defender Kurt Zouma sent off in stoppage time.
Wilfried Zaha earned Crystal Palace a 11 draw at home to West Ham United which had led through Mark Noble’s penalty.
Burnley continued its unbeaten
league run in 2019 with a 31 victory at Brighton & Hove Albion, moving it three points clear of the bottom three and ensuring Southampton will finish the weekend in the relegation zone.
Poor performances in draws against Leicester and West Ham, results which allowed Man City to eradicate its lead, had raised questions about Liverpool’s nerve as it chases a first English title since 1990.
Had keeper Alisson not par ried out Ryan Fraser’s shot in the second minute, it could have been a fraught afternoon in the Anfield sunshine.
But once Mane headed his side in front Liverpool assumed control. Wijnaldum’s deft lob over Artur Boruc doubled the lead and Salah got in on the act after good linkup play with Roberto Firmino.
Salah also struck the crossbar as Liverpool confirmed its return to form. It moved to 65 points from 26 matches with City on 62 and Tottenham Hotspur, which was to host Leicester this morning, a little further back on 57 points.
‘‘We were not happy with the performances from the previous two games and struggled a bit with set pieces,’’ Klopp said.
‘‘There were a lot of things we had to improve. We have high expectations and today we won in an impressive manner — we had some outstanding perform ances on the pitch.’’
United’s extraordinary resurgence under Solskjaer has resulted in it collecting 25 points from his nine league games — more than any other manager has achieved in his first nine matches in charge of a single club in the competition.
World Cup winner Pogba was again the architect of the victory as he took his tally of league goals to seven since former striker Solskjaer arrived. — Reuters