Top sides slip up as schedule intensifies
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp had just seen his team fall behind after getting outplayed in the opening 25 minutes by a supposed contender for relegation and he’d had enough.
“Wake up!” Klopp barked to his players, his chest out and teeth gritted.
Liverpool ended up escaping from Craven Cottage with a 1-1 draw against Fulham thanks to a late penalty by Mohamed Salah but it was hardly the stuff of champions from Klopp’s team.
They weren’t alone in what proved a tough weekend for the Premier League’s likely title candidates. And for Arsenal, too.
Earlier yesterday, league leaders Tottenham were held to a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace.
On Sunday, Chelsea lost for just the second time in the league this season, 1-0 at Everton, and the two Manchester clubs played out a drab 0-0 draw at Old Trafford.
If this was some kind of hangover from the teams’ latest midweek exertions in European competition, then the schedule is only going to get more hectic now English football is entering the festive period where the show goes on, unlike many other leagues on the continent.
“I don’t want to make excuses — I’ll let you all talk about that and the amount of games players are playing, especially European teams,” Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson said. “We’ve just got to prepare and play whenever we’re told.”
As it was, there was no harm done by the champions for what was one of their sloppiest displays of the season. Liverpool end the weekend second after 12 games, tied on 25 points with Tottenham. The pair meet at Anfield on Thursday (NZT) in the headline fixture of a midweek round where rotation might be heavy across the division.
Arsenal can no longer be described as title contenders but were another team playing after a midweek European match.
Mikel Arteta’s team fell to the worst defeat of the lot, 1- 0 at home to Burnley after going down to 10 men following Granit Xhaka’s red card.
Salah to the rescue
Salah moved to 13 goals for the season in all competitions with Liverpool’s 79th-minute equaliser at Fulham.
Liverpool looked to be heading for the second loss of their title defence, when a shot by Georginio Wijnaldum from a free kick struck the outstretched elbow of Fulham substitute Aboubakar Kamara, who was jumping in the defensive wall.
A penalty was awarded and Salah struck his attempt low and down the middle, with keeper Alphonse Areola getting a hand to the ball but unable to keep it out.
Bobby De Cordova-Reid gave Fulham the lead in the 25th minute with one of a series of chances created by the home team in a onesided first half.
Liverpool played the second half with two central midfielders — Fabinho and Henderson — at centre back after Joel Matip went off with a back issue. Matip had been the only fit senior centre half available to Klopp, with Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez out with long-term injuries.
Unstoppable partnership
There’s just no stopping Harry Kane and Son Heung-min. They teamed up for a goal for the 12th time this season, as Kane opened the scoring for Spurs at Palace by collecting a pass from Son and smashing a fierce, swerving shot from about 30 metres that keeper Vicente Guaita lost track of.
Only Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton, with 13, have combined for more goals in a single top-flight season than Kane and Son. That came in the 1994-95 title-winning campaign for Blackburn.
Guaita made amends with two outstanding saves, denying first Kane and then Eric Dier from a free kick, to preserve a point for Palace after Jeffrey Schlupp’s 81st-minute equaliser at Selhurst Park.
Aubameyang own goal
Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been struggling to find the net this season. He did against Burnley, but unfortunately for him, at the wrong end.
Aubameyang inadvertently glanced a Burnley corner past his keeper Bernd Leno for what proved the deciding goal in the 73rd minute at Emirates Stadium. Arsenal were a man down by that point after Xhaka was shown a straight red card for grabbing Burnley’s Ashley Westwood by the throat.
Sheffield United became the first Premier League team since Queens Park Rangers in 2012 to fail to win any of their first 12 games in a season after losing 3-0 at Southampton.
Just above Southampton are Leicester, who beat Brighton 3-0 at home as James Maddison scored either side of a clinically-taken goal by Jamie Vardy.