FIGHT NIGHT
Emotions boil over as spate of penalties keep City, Chelsea and Liverpool in tightest title race
ONE of the tightest Premier League title races ever reached boiling point yesterday as Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea all scraped narrow wins from controversial penalties.
Chelsea centre-back Antonio Rudiger was at the heart of a mass confrontation at full-time after Jorginho scored a decisive 94th-minute penalty to beat a furious Leeds 3-2.
Raheem Sterling netted from the spot to hand leaders Manchester City a 1-0 win over Wolves which led to visiting manager Bruno Lage blasting the ‘crazy’ decisions of the referee.
Steven Gerrard was unhappy on his return to Anfield after his Aston Villa side were denied a spot-kick after Mo Salah’s second-half penalty put Liverpool ahead in their 1-0 win.
It means just two points separate the Premier League’s top three sides, making it one of the closest title races in history.
According to Opta, only in the 1998-99 season has there been a smaller gap between the top three Premier League teams when one point split Manchester United, Aston Villa and Chelsea.
Manchester United also benefitted from the spot as Cristiano Ronaldo’s late penalty secured Ralf Rangnick’s second win from two in charge, at Norwich.
Six penalties were scored yesterday, the most on a single day of Premier League action in a decade, and three of them came in a fiery game at Stamford Bridge.
Rudiger was adjudged to have been fouled for both of Chelsea’s penalties, tucked away by Jorginho, and raced half the length of the
Ronaldo to the rescue yet again for United Pages 152-153
pitch as players squared up to each other at the full-time whistle.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel backed his player. ‘If you have Toni [Rudiger], you have Toni,’ he said.
‘You cannot have Toni as the emotional and aggressive leader, and not expect him to be involved when there are team-mates to protect.
‘He would not accept losing. We knew it would be an intense match for Toni and (Cesar) Azpilicueta because of the way Leeds play. It’s good Toni did not accept to lose.
‘There is always a bit of luck when you score such a late goal, but we’d conceded two of them (recently) so maybe it was our turn.
‘We needed this win desperately, for the mood and belief and atmosphere. I’m very happy how we got it, how we played. We have two days off now and it’s a good feeling among the boys.’
Jorginho will enjoy the rest more than most, having had to play through hip and back pain in recent weeks in the continued absence of central midfielders Mateo Kovacic and N’Golo Kante.
‘Jorgi is super important, and he has sacrificed himself for us in recent weeks,’ said Tuchel. ‘I suspected this moment would come when he would suffer because he has not had a break. He played through to the Champions League final for us, then in the Euros for Italy and World Cup qualifiers.
‘He had no pre-season, and started our Super Cup game straightaway.
It was not demanding just physically but mentally too. I knew there would be a time in the season when he would feel his body.
‘He is not fully fit, but Jorgi is Jorgi and fully aware of the situation, that we miss Kova and N’Golo. He makes a sacrifice and gives his very best every day. He spends hours and hours with the physios and the medical department to get himself in the best shape possible.
‘He has a great attitude and it was a nice reward for him because it is not easy to score two penalties in one game.’ Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa added: ‘In a game of emotions that were so high, it was two teams with liberated passions.’
Manchester City were fortunate to win at The Etihad after Joao Moutinho was penalised for handball, despite replays appearing to show the ball striking him under the armpit.
‘The referee (Jonathan Moss) saw it as hitting his arm but the ball touched here (armpit). It’s very hard to accept — VAR should have made the decision,’ said Lage, who also criticised the decision to send off Raul Jimenez for two yellow cards in 20 seconds after the striker stopped City taking quickly the free-kick he has just conceded.
‘For Raul’s first yellow card, he did not touch the guy — it was a crazy decision,’ said Lage.
Liverpool legend Gerrard watched his Villa side sunk 1-0 by Salah’s penalty, which was awarded for what he felt was actually a foul on Tyrone Mings.
Gerrard was even more perturbed by Villa being denied their own penalty late on.
‘There was certainly contact from Alisson on Danny Ings and if you follow it there is a two-handed shove on Ollie Watkins,’ he said.
‘We thought that deserved the referee and VAR taking another look but it looked like they wanted to move on quickly.’