City’s title hopes dealt severe blow

LONDON: Zlatan Ibrahimovic rescued a point for Manchester United against Liverpool yesterday after Manchester City’s English Premier League title hopes were dealt a serious blow with a heavy defeat at Everton.

Ibrahimovic’s 84thminute header gave United a 11 draw against bitter rival Liverpool at Old Trafford.

The result lifts Liverpool to third, seven points behind leader Chelsea, with United 12 points off the pace in sixth place.

‘‘We got one point; we were not at the top of our game,’’ Ibrahimovic told Sky Sports. ‘‘It was a hard fight.

‘‘We were 10 down and chased and chased. It was a different game in the second half and we got an equaliser.’’

Manchester City was thrashed 40 at Everton and is now 10 points behind Chelsea in fifth.

‘‘Of course we can do better,’’ City manager Pep Guardiola said.

‘‘It is awful for my players. It is normal to live these kind of situations sometimes.’’

Liverpool extended its unbeaten run to six league games and ended United’s ninegame winning run in all competitions, although the Red Devils remain unbeaten in 16 overall.

‘‘It is so intense,’’ Liverpool boss Juergen Klopp told the BBC. ‘‘We were here to win the game which is why we we are not 100% satisfied.’’

Liverpool defender James Milner scored with a firsthalf penalty after Paul Pogba handled the ball from a corner kick.

United started to push and was rewarded when Ibrahimovic nodded the ball in off the bottom of the crossbar seconds after Marouane Fellaini had headed off the post.

‘‘I didn’t think the game had super quality,’’ United manager Jose Mourinho said.

Everton had just 29% possession against City but scored with four of its six shots at Goodison Park.

‘‘You cannot plan a game like this,’’ Everton manager Ronaldo Koeman, whose side remains seventh, told the BBC.

‘‘I think it is a big compliment to Everton today — the organisation defensively. It makes the final result and the way we played perfect.’’

Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring with Everton’s only shot of the first half and Kevin Mirallas doubled the lead two minutes after the restart.

Then 18yearold Tom Davies scored his first Everton goal in the 79th minute and Ademola Lookman, making his debut after signing from Charlton 10 days ago, added the exclamation mark in stoppage time.