EPL PIX: Fabinho strike earns Liverpool battling win

Brazilian Fabinho's first-half goal earned Liverpool a 1-0 win at Burnley on Saturday, as Juergen Klopp's side closed the gap on Premier League leaders Manchester City to nine points.

The hosts initially coped better with the awful Lancashire conditions, creating more chances than Liverpool, only for their wastefulness to prove costly as midfielder Fabinho bundled in what proved to be the winner five minutes before the break.

Chasing a goal that would have earned Burnley their fourth successive draw, they pumped plenty of long balls forward and crosses into the box in the second half, but failed to create a clear-cut chance.

Liverpool dug in defensively, with goalkeeper Alisson standing firm when called upon, to see out a sixth successive win in all competitions.

Victory moved Liverpool on to 54 points from 24 matches and if they win their game in hand on City the gap at the top would be just six points.

Burnley will see this as a missed opportunity and remain rooted to the bottom of the table, seven points from safety, but having played two fewer games than Newcastle United in 17th.

"It is always hard to play here," Fabinho said. "Burnley is a tough place to come. Sometimes we forget to play football a little bit because we want to fight for the second balls but when we had the ball on the ground we created chances.

"We didn't score the second goal but defensively the team was very good today. A nice three points."

Liverpool forwards Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane made their first starts since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations in the driving rain, but could only look on as Burnley started on the front foot.

The first effort at goal was from Burnley after Josh Brownhill's fierce strike was tipped wide by goalkeeper Alisson at full stretch.

It took Liverpool until the 21st minute to test home stopper Nick Pope, with Naby Keita denied low to the keeper's right before, down the other end, Burnley's January signing Wout Weghorst should have done better when through on goal.

The home side remained on top and soon forced Alisson into another save, the Brazilian smothering at the feet of Jay Rodriguez.

The chances were coming thick and fast, with Mane then immediately firing straight at Pope from a free kick, before Weghorst should have hit the target from a good position for Burnley.

Burnley were left to rue their profligacy when Mane flicked on Trent Alexander-Arnold's corner to Fabinho, who squeezed the ball over the line at the second attempt - the Brazilian's fifth goal in all competitions since the turn of the year.

"You have to take your chances," Burnley coach Sean Dyche said. "Two or three of the chances we created were huge chances.

"There are a lot of good things coming out of these players, but we got nothing for it. We have to keep playing like that against all standards of opposition."

It was a matter of just holding on for Klopp's side given the conditions and determination of Burnley after the break.

Alisson made more saves in a single league match than he had all season, much to the frustration of a soaked Turf Moor crowd.

Substitute Diogo Jota should have added a late second but fired wide with goal at his mercy. It mattered little, as Liverpool celebrated a hard-earned win at fulltime.

Tottenham on the slide as Wolves claim away win

Tottenham Hotspur sank to a third successive Premier League defeat as first-half goals by Raul Jimenez and Leander Dendoncker gave Wolverhampton Wanderers a 2-0 away win to lift them into seventh place on Sunday.

After losing 3-2 at home to Southampton in midweek, Tottenham desperately needed a response to boost their top-four ambitions, but defensive errors cost them dear.

Jimenez volleyed in after six minutes following a mistake by Tottenham keeper Hugo Lloris and the French World Cup winner hardly covered himself in glory when Dendoncker doubled Wolves' lead 12 minutes later.

Lloris redeemed himself a little to prevent Wolves adding to their advantage before the break but Tottenham left the pitch at halftime to boos on a rain-sodden north London afternoon.

Tottenham improved in the second half but the closest they came was a deflected Harry Winks shot against the post.

Wolves were comfortable though and leapfrogged Tottenham into seventh place with 37 points, only three behind fourth-placed West Ham United who play at Leicester City later.

Tottenham slip to eighth with 36 points.

When the Premier League resumed this week after a short winter interlude, Tottenham looked well-placed to challenge for a top-four finish as they have games in hand of their rivals.

Antonio Conte was undefeated in his first nine league games as Tottenham manager having taken charge in November, but the optimism that run induced is fading fast.

"We created many chances to score and we had the possession but for sure it is very difficult to explain the way we started -- I think the two goals are very difficult to comment," Conte said. "In the end we are talking about another defeat."

It is the first time Conte has lost three league games in a row since his days managing Atalanta in November 2009.

Bruno Lage's rock solid Wolves, on the other hand, look capable of making a bid for European qualification and their travelling fans will be dreaming of a top-four spot.

"The first 45 minutes we played very well and created a lot of chances," Lage said. "They had one or two chances in the second half but we controlled the game."

Conte made three changes to the side that lost to Southampton with Rodrigo Bentancur coming in for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and wings backs Matt Doherty and Ryan Sessegnon coming in for Emerson Royal and Sergio Reguilon.

But defensively Tottenham were a shambles again.

Lloris initially did well to save a Ruben Neves shot but he then flimsily punched out Dendoncker's follow-up straight to Jimenez who volleyed the ball back into the net with Tottenham's defenders failing to react.

Son Heung-min wasted a one-on-one to level and almost immediately after that Wolves doubled their lead.

Lloris played a terrible pass to Ben Davies whose clearance went straight to a Wolves player and when the ball was played to Daniel Podence his deflected shot hit the post and in the ensuing scramble Dendoncker bundled in.

Sessegnon was substituted before halftime and replaced by Dejan Kulusevski but Spurs kept making mistakes -- one poor pass by Winks ending with Podence forcing a fine save by Lloris.

Harry Kane was denied by Wolves keeper Jose Sa after the break as Tottenham pressed and Winks was denied by the post but the hosts could not breach a Wolves defence that has conceded only 17 goals in 23 league games.