Liverpool still on top as W. Ham beats ManU

LONDON: Liverpool moved back five points clear at the top of the Premier League with a 2- 1 win at Chelsea on another miserable day for Manchester United as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men lost to West Ham.

United are already 10 points behind the leaders after just six games, as Liverpool continue to set a relentless pace, and next face Arsenal, who came from a goal and a man down to beat Aston Villa 3- 2 at the Emirates.

At Stamford Bridge, Jurgen Klopp’s men stretched their Premier League winning run to 15 games thanks to two well- worked set- pieces in the first half- hour.

Trent Alexander- Arnold curled brilliantly into the top corner after Mohamed Salah flicked a free- kick into his path to open the scoring.

Chelsea was then denied an equaliser scored by Cesar Azpilicueta by a VAR review for offside against Mason Mount.

Frank Lampard is still to win at home in four matches as Chelsea boss, but his side continued to press the European champions with Adrian stopping Tammy Abraham when the in-form striker was clean through on goal.

Chelsea’s defensive deficiencies were shown up again, though, as Roberto Firmino was afforded a simple header from Andy Robertson’s cross to make it 2- 0.

“We are only six matches in,” said Klopp as Liverpool look to end a 30year drought to win the league.

“We have to be ready for each opponent. They are all waiting and want to give us a knock, rightly so but we have to be ready to do what we have to do.”

Lampard’s men did finally get some reward for a vibrant performance when N’Golo Kante skipped through midfield and curled beautifully beyond Adrian, but Liverpool held on to extend their advantage over Manchester City once more.

“Performance wise we were the better team,” said Lampard. “We had more energy in our game, character and spirit. That’s why the crowd applauded at the end. Let’s take this forward.”

United’s stuttering start to the season continued as two brilliant finishes from Andriy Yarmolenko and Aaron Cresswell earned West Ham a 2- 0 victory at the London Stadium.

The Red Devils have now won just one of their last five Premier League games and have not won away from home since Solskjaer was handed the role as manager on a permanent basis in March.

United were toothless in attack without the injured Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial and also lost Marcus Rashford to injury in the second half.