Liverpool beat Arsenal to cut Man City's lead; Spurs win

Images from the English Premier League matches played on Wednesday night.

A clinical Liverpool beat Arsenal 2-0 to cut Manchester City's once double-digit lead at the top of the Premier League table to a single point on Wednesday, leaving the title race wide open.

An Arsenal side on a five-game winning run in the league and in fourth place represented a big obstacle to Klopp's title chasers and were the better side in the first half.

But the game tipped decisively early in a frenetic second period as Liverpool extended their own relentless run to nine consecutive league wins.

Their breakthrough came shortly after a misplaced backpass had almost gifted Arsenal a goal, Portuguese Diogo Jota getting ahead of the London side's defence on 54 minutes to beat goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale at his near post.

Roberto Firmino sewed up a crucial three points eight minutes later, squeezing a shot under the Arsenal goalkeeper again after the hosts had twice failed to clear the ball.

Liverpool's title destiny is now very much in their own hands as they still have to visit City in April.

Manager Juergen Klopp celebrated with the visiting fans at the end.

"We've obviously had a good period. It's what we need. We're one point (behind), but it's still the same. We have to win football matches. We then face City, then all the others.

"Hopefully all the players come back fit from international duty. Then we have an early kickoff against Watford. It's better to be one point behind than 14 points.

"We know we have a special group here and we're trying to squeeze everything we can out of the situation."

While the result was a blow to Arsenal they remain fourth in the table, one point above Manchester United having played two games fewer.

"They really raised the level today but unfortunately games are won in the boxes," he said of his side. "We opened the door and they went to that door and scored two goals."

Arsenal more than matched Liverpool for long periods but the game ultimately swung shortly after the interval.

A misplaced backpass by Thiago let in Martin Odegaard who looked poised to score but Alisson made a superb save.

Minutes later Jota fired the visitors ahead to knock the stuffing out of the hosts.

Firmino, who came off the bench along with Mohamed Salah who surprisingly did not start, then produced a neat flick to convert Andy Robertson's cross after Arsenal were guilty of not getting the ball clear on several occasions.

"I saw a hard-working team in the first half and in the second half we enjoyed it more and that was when we really stepped up," Klopp said. "We really want to enjoy the situation we are in by winning football matches."

Kane on target as Tottenham ease to win

Tottenham Hotspur kept themselves in the hunt for a top-four finish in the Premier League with goals by Cristian Romero and Harry Kane bagging a 2-0 win at out-of-form Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday.

A dismal first half on a rainy night on the south coast was almost devoid of goalmouth action until central defender Romero deflected in Dejan Kulusevski's shot in the 37th minute to open his account for the club.

Tottenham were far brighter than their hosts in the second half and doubled the lead with a textbook counter-attack rounded off by Kane's unerring finish in the 57th minute.

It was Kane's 95th goal in 139 appearance away from home in the Premier League, taking him past Wayne Rooney with whom he had previously shared the record.

Brighton failed to really trouble Tottenham keeper Hugo Lloris as they slumped to a sixth successive league defeat although they are well clear of relegation trouble.

Victory lifted Antonio Conte's Tottenham above Wolverhampton Wanderers into seventh place with 48 points, level with West Ham United who they have one game in hand on.

Tottenham, who host West Ham on Sunday, are three points behind fourth-placed Arsenal who lost 2-0 at home to title-chasing Liverpool. Arsenal have played one game less.

"We got ahead in the game and then I think we controlled it. Overall it was a really good night away from home," Kane said.

"Sometimes you need a bit of luck to go your way to break the deadlock and that's what happened and from there we controlled it."

There was certainly a large slice of fortune about Tottenham's opening goal.

A rather languid move, in keeping with a boring first half, ended up with Kulusevski finally having a shot at goal and the ball glanced the leg of the lurking Romero to wrong-foot Brighton keeper Robert Sanchez.

Tottenham's second was clinical.

Brighton were actually enjoying their best spell of the game but when a move broke down, Rodrigo Bentancur's incisive pass released Kane who had timed his run to perfection.

The England captain drilled a shot low inside Sanchez's near post before the keeper had time to set himself.

It was Kane's 178th Premier League goal, taking him past Frank Lampard into fifth place on the all-time list.

Tottenham could have extended their lead late on with Kane having a penalty appeal turned down and setting up Sergio Reguilon whose shot was saved.

It was the perfect response to a 3-2 defeat by fifth-placed Manchester United at the weekend and Conte challenged his players to keep the pressure on in the top-four battle.

"It's a difficult target, to reach fourth place is not simple but I feel we are ready to fight in every game," the Italian said. "On Sunday we have a crucial game against West Ham and they have the same target as us."