Injuries strike as United hold Liverpool
Gunners see off poor Southampton
Manchester – Liverpool took over at the top of the Premier League table despite being held to a 0-0 draw by Manchester United yesterday. While the point means that Liverpool have the destiny of the title in their own hands now – with 11 games remaining – they will be disappointed not to have taken advantage of an injury-ravaged Manchester United.
Having lost holding midfielder Nemanja Matic to injury before the game, Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera went off in the 20th minute and Juan Mata was replaced by Jesse Lingard five minutes later.
But Lingard didn’t even last until the break as he suffered what appeared to be a recurrence of his hamstring strain and limped off to be replaced by Alexis Sanchez. Amid those three United injuries, Liverpool also lost their Brazilian forward Roberto Firmino to a muscle strain. After such a messy first half, neither side were able to truly get into their stride in a disappointing game. Meanwhile, Arsenal cruised to victory over a disjointed Southampton thanks to two first-half goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Henrikh Mkhitaryan at the Emirates, taking them back into the top four in the Premier League. Arsenal took the lead in the sixth minute in bizarre circumstances, Lacazette neatly back-heeling in a pass from Mkhitaryan while the rest of the team were still appealing for a penalty after Lucas Torreira took a tumble in the box. The home side doubled their advantage minutes later when Southampton keeper Angus Gunn, making only his second Premier League appearance, cleared the ball straight into the path of Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi. – Reuters