Chelsea would possibly lastly be discovering its stride beneath Graham Potter whereas Liverpool’s up-and-down season took one other nosedive within the English Premier League on Saturday.
Chelsea made it three straight wins in all competitions for the primary time since October by beating Leicester 3-1 away, one other signal that the expensively assembled group is beginning to gel beneath Potter.
Liverpool, although, adopted its file 7-0 win over archrival Manchester United by dropping 1-0 at relegation-threatened Bournemouth — a group it beat 9-0 at residence in August.
Manchester City once more seemed removed from its finest however nonetheless saved the strain on chief Arsenal by beating Crystal Palace 1-0 away because of a second-half penalty by Erling Haaland. That reduce Arsenal’s result in two factors forward of its go to to Fulham on Sunday.
Liverpool’s shocking loss threw away a lot of the momentum it had generated lately after a woeful first half of the season, and Jurgen Klopp’s group is six factors behind fourth-placed Tottenham within the combat for the ultimate Champions League place, albeit with a sport in hand.
“This game was a massive knock,” Klopp said. “You know how it is with knocks, you have to take them and see how big the scars are and go from there.” Tottenham beat Nottingham Forest 3-1 at residence after Harry Kane scored twice within the first half.
Bournemouth started the day in final place however climbed as much as seventeenth, with Everton additionally leaving the relegation zone after Dwight McNeil scored simply 35 seconds right into a 1-0 win over Brentford.
Leeds fell to nineteenth place regardless of rallying for a 2-2 residence draw towards Brighton.
The battle towards the drop is exceedingly tight, although, with solely 4 factors separating Leeds from Twelfth-placed Crystal Palace.
Manchester City visited Palace within the late sport attempting to maintain up the strain on chief Arsenal, which performs at Fulham on Sunday.
Chelsea thriving, Liverpool stumble
After knocking out Borussia Dortmund from the Champions League to succeed in the quarterfinals, Chelsea adopted with a primary away win within the league since Oct. 16.
“It’s been a extremely good week,” said Potter, whose job looks a lot more secure than it did last weekend.
Kai Havertz netted one of the best goals of the day to make it 2-1 just before halftime by volleying in a delicate lob over the goalkeeper after being teed up in the area by another lofted ball from record signing Enzo Fernandez.
Ben Chilwell put Chelsea ahead in the 11th minute after meeting a high cross into the area with a low first-time shot from a difficult angle. Patson Daka equalized in the 39th. Mateo Kovacic added the third for Chelsea in the 78th.
Chelsea remained in 10th place but just five points behind fifth-placed Liverpool after Klopp’s side showed their inconsistency once again.
Philip Billing scored the only goal in the 28th minute after being teed up in the box by Dango Ouattara and Bournemouth managed to contain a Liverpool attack that was rampant against United last weekend.
Mohamed Salah summed up a frustrating afternoon for the Reds when he missed a penalty in the 70th by sending his effort wide, the first time he has missed the target from the spot in the Premier League.
Haaland scores again
For 77 minutes at Selhurst Park, it looked like Palace manager Patrick Vieira could have a big say in the title race between his two former clubs and tilt the balance further in Arsenal’s favour by taking points off City.
But after defending resolutely for so long, Palace came undone at a corner and gave away a cheap penalty when Michael Olise clumsily clattered into Ilkay Gundogan in the area.
Haaland made no mistake from the spot, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way for his 28th league goal to make up for having missed a stellar chance in the first half.
Palace’s lack of attacking threat at the other end was evident once again. Vieira’s team has not won a single game in 2023, and this was the third league match in a row when it didn’t manage a single shot on target.
Linekar off air, in the stands
Taken off the air, Gary Lineker went into the stands.
Former participant and TV presenter Gary Lineker is pictured on the stand along with his son.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
Lineker attended the Leicester-Chelsea sport amid a rising disaster on the BBC after the favored presenter of the highlights present “Match of the Day” was suspended by the broadcaster for feedback criticizing the British authorities’s new asylum coverage.
Lineker, the previous England captain who started his skilled enjoying profession at Leicester, watched his former group within the stands and posed for photographs with followers whereas the BBC scrambled to stem the fallout from the choice to take him off the air.
The broadcaster mentioned it will air solely “limited sport programming” over the weekend after hosts of lots of its widespread sports activities reveals declined to seem, in solidarity with Lineker. The BBC’s Premier League protection was particularly affected as lunchtime TV program “Football Focus” and the early night “Final Score” had been each changed with different applications, and Saturday’s version of “Match of the Day” — the late-night soccer present that has been a British establishment for 60 years — was set to be decreased to only a 20-minute compilation of match footage with no studio punditry and no participant or supervisor interviews.
Source web site: www.thehindu.com
