LIVERPOOL GO 16 POINTS CLEAR
Liverpool, UK - Liverpool stretched their commanding lead at the top of the English Premier League (EPL) to 16 points and advantage over Manchester United to 30 as goals from Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah earned a 2-0 win over their historic rivals at Anfield.
A 13th straight league win since the sides last met at Old Trafford in October continues Liverpool's relentless run towards a first league title in 30 years, while United remain five points off the top four in fifth.
Liverpool also have a game in hand to come on closest challengers Manchester City and could have been more comfortable winners after seeing two first half goals ruled out and a host of clear chances go astray.
United are the only team to take EPL points off the European champions this season, but it rarely looked like lightning would strike twice once the hosts went in front on 14 minutes.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's game plan was undone by a simple setpiece as Van Dijk rose highest to power home Trent AlexanderArnold's corner. The Norwegian had set up with a back five, with Luke Shaw forced to deputise out of position as a third centre-back, and only a great challenge from the former Southampton left-back denied Sadio Mane a certain second as he burst onto Roberto Firmino's pass.
Jurgen Klopp's men did have the ball in the net twice more before the break, but VAR and the offside flag came to United's rescue to keep the score down.
Shorn of injured top scorer Marcus Rashford, United failed to even muster a shot in anger for the first 40 minutes until Anthony Martial pulled his effort wide of the near post. However, they could easily have been level against the run of play moments later when Andreas Pereira could not stretch to turn home Aaron Wan-Bissaka's ball across the face of the goal.
At the other end, De Gea had one more key intervention before the break as he saved with his feet from Mane's driven effort.
But Liverpool's failure to put the game to bed could have cost them when Martial blazed over United's best chance of the game after a well-worked one-two with Pereira just before the hour mark.
Just like in the 1-0 win at Tottenham last weekend Liverpool tired in the final 20 minutes, with Klopp forced to withdraw Mane and Firmino to bolster the midfield. However, the hosts held out for a seventh consecutive clean sheet in all competitions and took another giant step towards the title as Salah secured the three points with virtually the last kick of the game. The Egyptian was picked out by goalkeeper Alisson Becker and ran from inside his own half before slotting under De Gea.
Earlier on Sunday, Burnley fought back to boost their bid for EPL survival as Ashley Westwood's late goal clinched a 2-1 win over Leicester on Sunday.
Chelsea rocked
On Saturday night, Frank Lampard admitted he wants to sign a new striker after Newcastle damaged Chelsea's bid for a top-four finish in the EPL with a dramatic 1-0 win at St James' Park. Lampard's side were unable to muster the cutting edge required to break down stubborn Newcastle and fell to Isaac Hayden's header with just 20 seconds left in stoppage-time.
Lewandowski strikes
Berlin, Germany - Robert Lewandowski hit his 20th league goal this season as Bayern Munich climbed to second in the German League on Sunday with a 4-0 romp at Hertha Berlin to trim RB Leipzig's lead to four points.
Having seen RB Leipzig go five points clear with a 3-1 victory over Union Berlin on Saturday, Bayern climbed a place in the table with second-half goals by Thomas Mueller, Lewandowski, Thiago Alcantara and Ivan Perisic.
Other results: Saturday: Hoffenheim 1 Eintracht Frankfurt 2, Fortuna Duesseldorf 0 Werder Bremen 1, Mainz 1 Freiburg 2, Augsburg 3 Borussia Dortmund 5, Cologne 3 VfL Wolfsburg 1, RB Leipzig 3 Union Berlin 1 ; Sunday: Paderborn 1 Bayer Leverkusen 4. Italian League: Saturday: Lazio 5 Sampdoria 1, Sassuolo 2 Torino 1, Napoli 0 Fiorentina 2; Sunday: AC Milan 3 Udinese 2, Bologna 1 Hellas Verona 1, Brescia 2 Cagliari 2, Lecce 1 Inter Milan 1, Genoa 1 Roma 3.
Spanish League: Saturday: Levante 0 Alaves 1, Osasuna 0 Valladolid 0, Eibar 2 Atletico Madrid 0; Sunday: Real Mallorca 4 Valencia 1, Real Betis 3 Real Sociedad 0, Villarreal 1 Espanyol 2.