Race for top four now wide open
TIGHT: ARSENAL’S WIN LIFTS THEM INTO 4TH POSITION
London
Liverpool cut Manchester City’s lead at the top of the Premier League to a single point yesterday as Manchester United slipped to their first domestic defeat under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Arsenal.
Chelsea, also in the hunt for the Champions League qualification spots, needed a last-gasp equaliser from Eden Hazard to earn 1-1 draw against Wolves.
A disappointing run of results has badly dented Liverpool’s bid for a first English league title since 1990 and fans’ nerves were jangling after they fell behind against struggling Burnley at Anfield.
But Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane both scored twice as Jurgen Klopp’s team battled back to win 4-2, lifting them to 73 points, one behind Pep Guardiola’s City, who saw off Watford on Saturday.
“The message from today is that nobody gets rid of us,” said a defiant Klopp, whose team had won just two of their previous six league matches. “We had the perfect mixture of fighting the opponent and playing football.”
Tottenham’s third defeat in four Premier League matches on Saturday has thrown the race for the top four – the passport to the Champions League – wide open.
United travelled to the Emirates Stadium brimming with confidence after their astonishing Champions League comeback against Paris Saint-Germain in midweek.
Solskjaer had won 13 and drawn two of his previous 15 league and cup fixtures since succeeding the sacked Jose Mourinho in mid-December but they fell behind in the 12th minute.
Granit Xhaka’s strike from distance swerved through the air to wrong-foot United goalkeeper David De Gea.
Both teams went close thereafter, with Fred hitting a post and Romelu Lukaku guilty of wasting some gilt-edged chances but the home side doubled their lead midway through the second half when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored from the penalty spot after Fred was penalised for bringing down Alexandre Lacazette.
Arsenal’s 2-0 victory lifted Unai Emery’s side into fourth, just one point behind Spurs. –