 | « Back to article | Print this article |
IMAGES from Saturday's English Premier League matches.
Premier League leaders Liverpool recovered from a poor first-half display as they came from behind to beat an impressive Crystal Palace 4-3 in an enthralling clash at Anfield on Saturday.
The win, secured by late goals from Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, moves Juergen Klopp's side a provisional seven points clear of second-placed Manchester City, who face bottom club Huddersfield Town on Sunday.
Palace won at City last month and at times looked as though they could produce another upset but while this was far from vintage Liverpool their prolific strikers helped them avoid a slip-up.
Trailing 1-0 at the break, two Liverpool goals inside the opening eight minutes of the second half changed the momentum of the match.
"The result is massive, we have 60 points now, it's crazy, it's an important number," said Klopp.
"I'm really proud, a few things happened that we don't really need, we're a bit short now on players but we have a few days and need to use the time now for recovery."
Palace, the last team to win at Anfield in the league back in April, 2017, took a shock 34th minute lead, against the run of play, when Andros Townsend slotted home a fine pull-back from Wilfried Zaha.
Liverpool equalised 47 seconds after the interval when the ball looped high into the area where Salah skilfully converted with the outside of his left foot after Virgil van Dijk's long-range effort was blocked.
Suddenly Liverpool were buzzing and it was no surprise when Brazilian Roberto Firmino put them ahead, collecting a pass from Naby Keita and beating veteran Palace keeper Julian Speroni with a slightly deflected low shot.
But the visitors were not about to roll over and they fought back to level at 2-2 in the 65th when James Tomkins was left unattended to head in a Luka Milivojevic corner.
Speroni, Palace's 39-year-old third-choice, then gifted Liverpool a goal when his one-handed waft at a harmless-looking James Milner cross fell for Salah to tap in after 75 minutes.
Salah now has 50 goals in his 72 Premier League appearances and is the current top scorer in the league with 16.
Milner was sent off in the 89th for a second yellow card after a late challenge on Zaha before Mane added the fourth for the hosts with a solo strike in stoppage time.
There was still time for Palace to strike again with Max Meyer beating Alisson Becker with a low shot which the Brazilian keeper would have expected to save.
Liverpool's back line then handled some late pressure from Palace to seal the three points.
Arsenal revive top-four hopes with win over Chelsea
Arsenal revived their hopes of a top-four finish with first-half goals by Alexandre Lacazette and Laurent Koscielny securing a comfortable 2-0 derby win at home to toothless Chelsea late on Saturday.
Chelsea’s lack of punch in the final third of the pitch was evident again as they enjoyed 64 percent of possession without ever really threatening to unlock Arsenal’s defence.
Arsenal were far sharper as an attacking force and deserved more than Lacazette’s superb 14th-minute effort and skipper Koscielny’s scruffy second in a scintillating opening period.
But those goals, and a resolute defensive display after the break, proved enough to give Arsenal only their third home league win against Chelsea in 10 years.
It also meant that, having begun the match in sixth spot after Manchester United’s win over Brighton and Hove Albion, they moved back into fifth place on goal difference with 44 points, three behind fourth-placed Chelsea.
“Today we needed to win. We made a mistake last week (at West Ham) so today’s game was a six-pointer,” Koscielny said.
After last weekend’s lacklustre defeat at West Ham United, Arsenal, with Mesut Ozil again on the bench, came out with something to prove on a raw night at the Emirates.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang should have scored early on but sliced wide from in front of goal from Lacazette’s cross while Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga made an instinctive save to keep out Koscielny’s point-blank header shortly afterwards.
Arsenal took the lead with a goal of real quality.
There appeared no route to goal when Lacazette received the ball with his back to goal in the area, but his silky turn left Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso floundering before he smashed in a shot that flew inside Arrizabalaga’s near post.
Pedro lobbed wide for Chelsea and Alonso headed against the post on the stroke of halftime but by that point Maurizio Sarri’s side were already 2-0 down thanks to Koscielny’s shoulder.
When the ball was played in Koscielny was unmarked but he mistimed his header, only for the ball to spin off his shoulder and beyond the reach of Chelsea’s keeper.
Arsenal restricted Chelsea in the second half as the visitors enjoyed the lion’s share of possession without ever opening up Arsenal’s defence.
Not even the introduction of former Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud, cheered by the home crowd, could liven up Chelsea’s blunt attack, which has managed six goals fewer than any other top-six side this season.
The one sour note for Arsenal was the sight of Spanish right back Hector Bellerin leaving the field on a stretcher with what appeared to be a knee injury.
Manchester United beat Brighton 2-1
Manchester United stretched their perfect run under caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to seven wins from as many games in all competitions with a 2-1 home defeat of Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League on Saturday.
The result provisionally lifted United one place up to fifth on 44 points from 23 games, three more than sixth-placed Arsenal who were playing fourth-placed Chelsea in the 1730 GMT fixture.
United stormed into a two-goal lead through Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford in the first half but faded in the second and served up a nervy finish to their fans after Pascal Gross pulled one back for battling Brighton.
Pogba opened the scoring with a 27th-minute penalty and Rashford made it 2-0 in the 42nd with a superb individual goal, beating his marker with dazzling footwork before hitting the top corner from a tight angle on his 150th appearance for United.
Gross reduced the arrears out of the blue in the 72nd minute, drilling in a close-range shot off the underside of the bar after Davy Propper floated in an inch-perfect cross with the outside of his foot.
United, who missed several chances to increase their lead in the opening hour, were forced to hang on in the closing stages as the visitors pounded a flurry of crosses into the penalty area.
Jota grabs treble, Nuno sent off as Wolves win seven-goal thriller
Diogo Jota completed a hat-trick in stoppage time to earn Wolverhampton Wanderers an amazing 4-3 win over Leicester City on Saturday in one of the best games of the Premier League season so far.
The late winner for Wolves, after they had repelled two fightbacks from their Midlands rivals, sparked jubilation at Molineux that even saw victorious manager Nuno Espirito Santo sent off for celebrating on the pitch with his players.
Leicester twice came from behind, at 2-0 and 3-2 down, and must have felt they had secured a crucial point for under-pressure manager Claude Puel when their captain Wes Morgan made it 3-3 with a header in the 87th minute.
Yet Wolves, who got off to the quickest of starts with two goals in 12 minutes through Jota and Ryan Bennett, would not be denied as Jota snatched his third in the 93rd after a final thrust by the hosts saw them leapfrog Leicester in mid-table.
It was heartbreaking for the Foxes who, after their sluggish start to the game, provided a sparkling start to the second half when two down, with a fine individual effort from Demarai Gray and a Conor Coady own goal dragging them back to parity.
It was unfortunate for Coady, who also scored an own goal on Monday against Manchester City, although there was little he could do when a shot from Harvey Barnes, just recalled from a loan deal, deflected off him into the net.
Wolves went ahead again in the 64th when a superb through ball from Ruben Neves set up Jota to fire home his second goal and, despite Morgan's late leveller, the Portuguese swept in again to strike home Raul Jimenez's pass at the death.
Big win for Hasenhuettl's revived Southampton over Everton
Southampton earned a crucial 2-1 win over Everton at St Mary's on Saturday but had to endure a nervy finish as they boosted their battle against Premier League relegation under galvanising new manager Ralph Hasenhuettl.
James Ward-Prowse scored a superb individual goal just after the break before a Lucas Digne own goal looked to have comfortably sealed a deserved win for the Saints in the 64th minute.
Yet a goal at the start of stoppage time from Gylfi Sigurdsson gave the home fans a nervous finish as eight minutes were added on, much to Hasenhuettl's consternation, while Everton pushed for the equaliser.
The win pushed Southampton into 15th place on 22 points, three clear of the relegation zone, as they won only their second home match of the season -- both coming under the stewardship of their impressive new Austrian boss.
"We played a fantastic game today, it could be four or five, fantastic football and defence. A great win for us," enthused Hasenhuettl, talking to the BBC.
"The strength you could feel it every second today. The guys really showed they are focused and committed and that is the key for the future."
Southampton merited the win after dominating the first half and twice striking the woodwork -- first, as Nathan Redmond hit the post and then as Andre Gomes hit his own side's upright while trying to defend another attack from Danny Ings.
Saints got the reward for their enterprise when Ward-Prowse was given too much freedom to maraud towards the Everton goal and smashed a 50th-minute shot past goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
The hapless Digne then toe-poked the ball past Pickford while desperately trying to quell an attack from the ever-dangerous Redmond in the 64th minute before Everton's late attacks came to nothing.
Southampton have now taken 13 points in eight games since 51-year-old Hasenhuettl arrived at St. Mary's in December - four more than they had managed in their preceding 15 matches.
"When you lose like we lost this afternoon, we are not happy, we didn't perform well and they deserved three points," said Everton manager Marco Silva.
"Southampton are giving everything to get out of the danger zone so it is important we give the same," added the Portuguese, whose side lie 11th in the table.
