Reds and City lose ground after draw
MANCHESTER: Manchester City had to come from behind to hold Liverpool 1-1 as both teams lost ground in the Premier League following victories for Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
City, in third place, stayed a point ahead of the Merseysiders with a game in hand thanks to Sergio Aguero’s equalising goal.
Knocked out of the Champions League by Monaco in midweek, City fell behind when full back Gael Clichy conceded a penalty six minutes after half-time and James Milner scored from the spot against his old club.
Liverpool, who had come into the game more after a slow start, were pegged back 18 minutes later when Aguero scored from Kevin de Bruyne’s fine low cross.
De Bruyne then hit a post and Adam Lallana missed badly for Liverpool in an exciting finish.
Tottenham Hotspur kept up the distant chase of Premier League leaders Chelsea with a hard-earned 2-1 victory over Southampton to cut the gap to 10 points yesterday.
Goals from Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli in each half extended Tottenham’s unbeaten home record as they claimed a 10th successive league win at White Hart Lane.
Questions had been asked about how Tottenham would cope without injured striker Harry Kane but they were answered after 14 minutes when Mousa Dembele found Eriksen and the Dane looked up and flashed a low shot beyond Fraser Forster.
Southampton striker Manolo Gabbiadini was inches away from an equaliser with a shot that shook the side-netting but the Italian limped off shortly afterwards with a groin injury.
As he trudged off in the 30th minute Alli was fouled in the area by Southampton skipper Steven Davis and he picked himself up to stroke home a penalty to put Spurs two up.
It was no cruise though for the hosts as Southampton halved the deficit six minutes after the break when former Saints defender Toby Alderweireld failed to cut out Nathan Redmond’s cross and James Ward-Prowse prodded a shot past Hugo Lloris.
In the other game yesterday, Manchester United moved into fifth place with a 3-1 victory away to struggling Middlesbrough, who sacked manager Aitor Karanka on Thursday. – Reuters