Leicester rudely awoken from dream

LEICESTER City were given a Premier League reality check when the unlikely leaders lost 1-0 at Liverpool yesterday, after Manchester United slumped to a third consecutive league defeat to pile the pressure on manager Louis van Gaal.

Christian Benteke’s second-half goal sealed the points at Anfield as Leicester suffered their first league defeat since September when they lost to Arsenal, who could replace them at the top if they beat Southampton in the late match.

Third-placed Manchester City closed in on Leicester by crushing lowly Sunderland 4-1 and Tottenham Hotspur consolidated fourth place as Harry Kane scored twice in a 3-0 home victory over Norwich City.

Leicester, who failed to score for the first time this season and suffered only their second loss, have 38 points from 18 matches with Arsenal on 36, Manchester City on 35 and Tottenham 32.

All eyes were on Van Gaal in the first game of the hectic holiday period and Stoke won comfortably 2-0 at the Britannia Stadium.

Goals from forwards Bojan Krkic and Marko Arnautovic left United in sixth place. They have now lost four consecutive matches in a season for the first time since 1961.

Guus Hiddink’s second spell as Chelsea’s interim manager began with a 2-2 draw at home to Watford. Oscar wasted the chance to secure victory for the champions when he missed a late penalty at Stamford Bridge and Chelsea remained 15th.

Crystal Palace drew 0-0 with Bournemouth, moving above Manchester United into fifth spot.

At the bottom, Aston Villa drew 1-1 with West Ham United to leave manager Remi Garde still awaiting a first win since taking over from Tim Sherwood.

Aston Villa fought back to salvage a draw at home, but the Premier League strugglers remain in trouble at the foot of the table.

West Ham have drawn their last five league matches and are without a win in eight, while Villa saw their club-record winless run in the league extended to 17 matches.

Only three of the previous 23 teams who were bottom on Christmas Day have avoided relegation and Villa will go into tomorrow’s trip to Norwich with just eight points from 18 games.

Managerless Swansea won for the first time since October, beating West Bromwich Albion 1-0 to climb out of the relegation zone above Norwich and Newcastle United, who lost 1-0 at home to Everton due to a last-minute goal by Tom Cleverley. Everton striker Romelu Lukaku failed to emulate the great Dixie Dean by scoring for the ninth game in a row. —