Liverpool deepen Manchester City crisis with 2-0 win to extend Premier League lead
Liverpool has opened up a nine-point lead at the top of the Premier League after beating Manchester City 2-0, while Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham have come back to earth. EPL WRAP
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Liverpool opened up a nine-point lead at the top of the Premier League as Manchester City’s crisis deepened in a 2-0 defeat at Anfield.
Cody Gakpo’s 12th-minute goal was scant reward for the Reds’ first-half domination and they sealed an 18th win in 20 games under Arne Slot thanks to Mohamed Salah’s penalty.
City are now 11 points off the runaway leaders down in fifth and winless in seven games, including six defeats.
Arsenal and Chelsea are Liverpool’s closest challengers as City appear set to lose their crown as English champions after winning an unprecedented four consecutive titles.
Pep Guardiola was taunted with chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” in the closing stages.
The City boss responded by showing six fingers, one for each of his Premier League title wins in the past seven seasons.
But Guardiola insisted he is not living in the past as he looks to turnaround the worst run of his managerial career.
“When you win you laugh, when they win, they laugh. It’s part of the game,” said Guardiola on his interaction with the crowd.
“Now it will be so difficult to repeat (winning the title) this season but all the club, we will reflect together, to try and come back strong.”
City’s only point since October 26 even felt like a defeat as they blew a 3-0 lead in the final 15 minutes to draw 3-3 with Feyenoord in the Champions League in midweek.
Guardiola responded by dropping goalkeeper Ederson, while Kyle Walker and Ruben Dias were restored to the defence.
But there was no response from the defending champions as they were blown away in the opening stages.
City could barely get out of their half in the opening quarter and the goal duly arrived when Gakpo bundled in Salah’s enticing cross to the back post.
Virgil van Dijk hit the post and powered another big headed chance inches wide as the chances continued to come for Liverpool.
Even during City’s finest seasons under Guardiola, they have struggled to contain the power of the Anfield crowd.
City’s only away win against Liverpool since 2003 remains behind closed doors during the coronavirus-impacted 2021/22 season.
“Today really stood out,” said Slot on whether this was his finest day as Liverpool boss to day. “
The culmination of the energy we had and the energy the crowd had.”
POSTECOGLOU CLAIMS SPURS IN ‘GOOD SHAPE’ DESPITE FULHAM DRAW
Ange Postecoglou insisted Tottenham are in “good shape” despite a frustrating 1-1 draw against Fulham that damaged their bid to secure a top four finish in the Premier League.
Postecoglou’s side maintained a concerning recent trend of inconsistent performances as they failed to build on Brennan Johnson’s 54th-minute opener in north London.
Johnson volleyed home from Timo Werner’s cross for his 10th goal this season to boost a Tottenham team hit by the morning withdrawal of ill England striker Dominic Solanke.
However, Fulham claimed a deserved leveller when substitute Tom Cairney rifled beyond Fraser Forster after 67 minutes.
Although Cairney was given an 83rd-minute red card following a VAR review for his foul on Dejan Kulusevski, Tottenham were unable to find a valuable winner.
A week on from a superb 4-0 victory at Manchester City, Tottenham have dropped to seventh place, but Postecoglou vowed to protect his players amid a growing list of absentees.
“We’re going to have to protect our players because as I said, we’re within our numbers and Deki (Kulusevski) has played every minute. I’ve rarely subbed him off,” the Australian said.
“So, we’ve just got to be careful with him and with a few others, but at the moment we just don’t have too many options, so we’ve just got to try and manage them the best we can and obviously that affects performance.
“It’s too easy to say, well, let’s just play like we did against Man City every game.
“And it somehow again seems with this club that whatever it is that we do well is then used as a millstone to bring us down at every other opportunity.”
MAN UTD THRASH EVERTON TO GIVE AMORIM PERFECT HOME START
Ruben Amorim refused to rule out a top-four challenge after enjoying a dream home Premier League debut as Manchester United thrashed Everton 4-0 thanks to doubles from Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee.
The Portuguese’s first Premier League game in charge at Ipswich last weekend showed how much work he has ahead as United blew an early lead to draw 1-1 at Portman Road.
But they cut loose against another opponent struggling at the wrong end of the table to the delight of the home crowd as chants of Amorim’s name rang around Old Trafford in the closing stages.
The former Sporting Lisbon boss made six changes from Thursday’s rollercoaster 3-2 win over Bodo/Glimt and was rewarded with a performance full of attacking verve that has been so often lacking from the Red Devils this season.
United are up to ninth place, within touching distance of the top four, and Amorim knows a challenge to qualify for the Champions League would be a good first impression at his new club.
“It’s hard for me. If I say no, you will say that I cannot be a Manchester United coach,” he said.
“I want to be honest with our fans, so let’s focus on the performance, not the results. So, we’ll see in the end.
“I said this many times, I will be judged about the place that we finish. I know that. But let’s focus just on the next game and look at the performance.”
IN-FORM CHELSEA ‘NOT READY’ FOR TITLE CHALLENGE: MARESCA
Enzo Maresca insisted Chelsea are not ready for a Premier League title challenge despite climbing to third place with an impressive 3-0 win over Aston Villa.
Maresca’s side are level on points with second-placed Arsenal as they eye a potential charge towards leaders Liverpool.
Goals from Nicolas Jackson, Enzo Fernandez Cole Palmer killed off struggling Villa at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to six games.
But Maresca, in his first season in charge after arriving from Leicester to replace Mauricio Pochettino, believes his young team need more experience before they can think about competing with Liverpool, who hold a nine-point lead at the top.
“We are not ready to compete with Liverpool, Arsenal and (Manchester) City, for many reasons,” Maresca said.
“Just because we won today I’m not going to change my idea. We’re not ready for that. But the good thing is we are improving and hopefully very soon we can be there.”
Originally published as Liverpool deepen Manchester City crisis with 2-0 win to extend Premier League lead
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