LONDON - Big guns Liverpool and Manchester United won their matches in the Premier League on Saturday to keep pressure on their opponents. While Liverpool extended their lead at the top, Man United mounted pressure on fourth-placed Chelsea with a 2-1 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion.
Liverpool recovered from a poor first-half display as they came from behind to beat battling Crystal Palace 4-3 in a thrilling goalfest at Anfield. The win, secured by late goals from Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, moves Juergen Klopp’s side seven points clear of Manchester City, who face bottom club Huddersfield Town on Sunday.
Palace 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 Palace 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.
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.
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. 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.
Newcastle United moved out of the relegation zone and dropped Cardiff City into it as an unlikely double by Fabian Schar earned them a crucial 3-0 victory at St James’ Park. An afternoon that began with unpopular club owner Mike Ashley being booed by disgruntled home fans ended on a brighter note as Rafa Benitez’s side took maximum points at home for only the third time this season.
Lowly Burnley made it four games unbeaten in the Premier League with a 0-0 draw at seventh-placed Watford. But the Clarets were left frustrated after a stoppage-time effort by striker Chris Wood was deemed narrowly offside.
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 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 was added on, much to Hasenhuettl’s consternation, while Everton pushed for the equaliser.
Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson smashed home a wonderful second-half volley and his strike partner Joshua King added a second to give their side a much-needed 2-0 home win over West Ham United. Wilson gave the home side the lead with a thunderous volley in the 54th minute. The visitors continued to leave space at the back as they desperately chased an equaliser, and King was able to slot the ball into an empty net after a superb counter-attack to secure all three points for Bournemouth.
Results
Wolves 4-3 Leicester
Bournemouth 2-0 West Ham
Liverpool 4-3 Crystal Palace
Man Utd 2-1 Brighton
Newcastle 3-0 Cardiff
Southampton 2-1 Everton
Watford 0-0 Burnley