LONDON: Liverpool took advantage of Manchester City’s dropped points with a 3-1 win at Crystal Palace on Sunday, taking a short bite from City’s commanding lead of the Premier League.
It was a far cry from form for Liverpool, who took a 2-0 lead after the first half, but needed a late penalty by Fabinho to suppress a provocative Palace fightback at Selhurst Park.
Third-placed Chelsea got back on track with a 2-0 home win over Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge, with Hakim Ziyech’s brilliant strike setting them on their way to their first win in five league games.
Manchester City were denied a 13th consecutive league win in a 1-1 draw at Southampton on Saturday and now lead Liverpool by nine points and one game more to play.
Chelsea are 10 behind City but have played one more game.
Arsenal missed a chance to move into the top four as they drew 0–0 at home to bottom club Burnley.
Leicester City drew 1–1 at home to Brighton and Hove Albion – Danny Welbeck’s late equalizer earned ninth-placed Brighton their 12th draw of the season.
Goals from Virgil van Dijk and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain put Liverpool in charge at Selhurst Park.
But confidence in Palace grew after the break and when Odsonne Edouard tapped after 55 minutes they looked to be able to save some until a controversial late penalty was awarded when Diogo Jota collided with palace keeper Vicente Guetta.
“A big three points for us today, really big,” said Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp, though he downplayed the importance of a win in the title race.
“The distance is too far to talk about this but we don’t have to. We just need to win football matches. Every Premier League game is as difficult as we saw today,” Klopp said.
Chelsea registered a third win against Tottenham this month, including two in the League Cup semi-finals, to get back on track after a worrying decline in league form.
They were great for the audience, but had to wait until two minutes after Ziyech’s spectacular curls to move on. Thiago Silva made it 2-0 shortly after and Chelsea could have won more.
Harry Kane was not allowed to score in the first half for Tottenham, but he surrendered his unbeaten league record under Antonio Conte as usual.
“We were working very hard for it and it was a tough match,” said Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel, who was celebrating the club’s one year in charge. “The effort was excellent and it was a deserved win.
“It is very difficult to create chances against them but we were relentless and kept believing.”
While Tottenham have slipped to seventh place with 36 points, all the teams battling for fourth place have a game in hand.
Arsenal took the lead from them on goal difference, but they were disappointing as they could now overtake Burnley.
“You need a different level of quality to win this match,” said manager Mikel Arteta, whose side were eventually relegated and have endured a disappointing January.
The Premier League now takes a two-week winter break and the focus switches to the transfer window which closes on 31 January. The action resumes on February 5.
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