Arne Slot’s ‘Reds’ once again delighted Anfield with spectacular, polished and winning football on Boxing Day. Jordan Ayew’s opener (6th, 0-1) was erased by the red steamroller, pulled by Cody Gakpo (45th+1, 1-1), Curtis Jones (49th, 2-1) and Mohamed Salah (82nd, 3-1).
Liverpool seem to be heading towards the title at full speed, with its seven points lead now over Chelsea (2nd, 35 pts), who also played one more match.
The ‘Blues’ dropped two points at Everton (0-0) on Sunday and lost three on Thursday against neighbor Fulham, came to win at Stamford Bridge for the first time since 1979. Harry Wilson (82nd, 1-1) and Rodrigo Muniz (90th +5, 1-2) created astonishment and ended a series of twelve matches without defeat for Chelsea, in all competitions.
“We knew we weren’t going to win every game. Everyone said from the start that we were not title candidates.”commented Cole Palmerthe first scorer (16th, 1-0), on Amazon Prime.
Chelsea (2nd, 35 pts) are now under direct threat from Nottingham Forest (3rd, 34 pts), an unexpected member of the podium. The Midlands club extended its fairy tale at the same time as the torments of Tottenham (1-0) on Thursday, thanks to Anthony Elanga (28th).
“There’s no harm in looking at (the rankings),” commented midfielder Elliot Anderson, “but we must remain lucid and keep our feet on the ground.”.
Manchester United falls again
To console itself, Manchester City (home draw against Everton) can say that the situation is even worse at their hated neighbor: Manchester United are languishing in fourteenth place in the Premier League after losing 2-0 at Wolverhampton on Thursday.
The ‘Red Devils’ suffered a fourth defeat in five league games, weighed down by the exclusion of their captain Bruno Fernandes (47ème) and the view of Matheus Cunhawho scored from a direct corner (58th, 1-0) then offered a ready-made goal for Hee-Chan Hwang (90th +9).
The ‘Wolves’ of new coach Vitor Pereira leave the red zone with a small point more than Leicester (18th, 14 pts), the first to be relegated. The Croatian Ivan Juric missed his first at the head of Southampton, the red lantern (20th, 6 pts) beaten 1-0 by West Ham.
Finally, the “Boxing Day” card was signed by Newcastle, a nice 3-0 against Aston Villa at St James’ Park, where the visitors suffered a long numerical inferiority (expulsion of Jhon Duran in the 32nd).
The ‘Magpies’ enjoyed goals from Anthony Gordon, Alexander Isak and Joelintonenough to extend their good streak: three successive victories, with eleven goals scored and none conceded!
