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Rediff.com  » Sports » Soccer PIX: Liverpool salvage point against City; Spurs hammer Aston Villa

Soccer PIX: Liverpool salvage point against City; Spurs hammer Aston Villa

Last updated on: March 10, 2024 23:46 IST
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Images from the EPL matches played on Sunday, March 10.

IMAGE: Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk in action with Manchester City's Phil Foden. Photograph: Carl Recine/Reuters

Alexis Mac Allister fired home a second-half penalty as Liverpool salvaged a point against Manchester City in a breathless 1-1 Premier League blockbuster at Anfield on Sunday that left Arsenal top of the table.

Liverpool are second but level on 64 points with the Gunners, with 10 games remaining of a thrilling three-way title race. Holders City, who are unbeaten in 21 games across all competitions, are third on 63. Arsenal climbed top with their 2-1 win against Brentford on Saturday.

City looked poised to hand manager Pep Guardiola his second victory in nine trips to the cauldron of Anfield when John Stones lost his marker to tap in Kevin De Bruyne's corner from close range in the 23rd minute. Stones leapt onto the barrier in front of the visitors' fans and shook both fists in celebration.

IMAGE: Manchester City's Kyle Walker in action with Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister. Photograph: Carl Recine/Reuters

The cheers were deafening when Mac Allister slotted home from the penalty spot past Ederson in the 50th minute after the keeper had sent Darwin Nunez flying through the air with a rash challenge in the box.

Buoyed by the goal, Liverpool kept pressing and had numerous near-misses. City's Jeremy Doku hit the post against the run of play, as both sides had to settle for the second draw this season between the two titans.

IMAGE: Tottenham Hotspur's Timo Werner celebrates scoring their fourth goal with Pedro Porro. Photograph: David Klein/Reuters

Tottenham Hotspur hammered 10-man Aston Villa 4-0 in the Premier League on Sunday thanks to four second-half goals, allowing them to close the gap with their Birmingham rivals to two points in the chase for Champions League football next season.

Villa's decision to start with a five-man backline cost them dearly in the second half as they conceded four times, with John McGinn getting sent off for a violent tackle that will likely incur a three-match ban.

 

Starting the day fourth, five points ahead of their fifth-placed visitors, Villa struggled from the off as Spurs pressed them high up the pitch and forced them to turn over the ball.

IMAGE: Tottenham Hotspur's James Maddison scores their first goal. Photograph: David Klein/Reuters

Villa had an appeal for a penalty turned down in the 34th minute as Leon Bailey went tumbling under an innocuous challenge from Yves Bissouma, and their only promising chance of the first half came in stoppage time as Lucas Digne sent a looping header just wide from a well-worked corner.

Spurs struck twice early in the second half with James Maddison volleying the opener in the 50th minute and Son Heung-min setting up Brennan Johnson to net the second three minutes later after Villa gave the ball away cheaply.

Any chance the home side had of staging a comeback all but disappeared when McGinn was shown a straight red card in the 65th minute for clattering Spurs defender Destiny Udogie.

With Villa on the ropes, Spurs captain Son swept home the third a minute into stoppage time, and he notched his second assist of the afternoon by setting up substitute Timo Werner to score three minutes later.

IMAGE: Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min celebrates scoring their third goal with Dejan Kulusevski. Photograph: David Klein/Reuters

The 4-0 victory moves Spurs to 53 points, two behind Villa with the London side also having a game in hand and a better goal difference.

Tottenham manger Ange Postecoglou was in ebullient mood after his side's superb second-half showing.

"Get excited, why not? The supporters, if they don't get excited by a performance and result like that, in what was a significant game...you've got to enjoy that," he told Sky Sports.

IMAGE: Tottenham Hotspur's Brennan Johnson scores their second goal. Photograph: David Klein/Reuters

Villa boss Unai Emery was sanguine after his side's second-half collapse.

"We have to accept that we were facing a Tottenham who are contenders to finish in the top four, like us," he told the BBC.

"We have to be consistent, we needed more. Of course we are still fourth but today we lost a very good opportunity."

IMAGE: West Ham United's Danny Ings celebrates scoring their second goal with Lucas Paqueta and Konstantinos Mavropanos. Photograph: Tony O’brien

Ings rescues West Ham

West Ham United's Danny Ings scored a stoppage-time equaliser in a 2-2 draw against Burnley at the London Stadium on Sunday to deny his former club their first Premier League victory of 2024.

The result moved Burnley off the bottom and up to 19th with 14 points in the standings -- level with Sheffield United but with a superior goal difference -- while West Ham are seventh with 43 points, one ahead of Brighton & Hove Albion.

Burnley have not won a game since before Christmas, a run of 10 matches which leaves Vincent Kompany's side 10 points from the safety zone.

David Fofana gave Burnley a shock lead in the 11th minute with a rocket from outside the box to end their goal drought in the league which had lasted nearly 5-1/2 hours after their last goal came against Liverpool in early February.

West Ham struggled to make any sort of impact in the rain and things went from bad to worse on the stroke of halftime when defender Konstantinos Mavropanos stuck a leg out to stop Josh Cullen's pass in the box and diverted it into his own net.

As the referee blew for halftime, the 2-0 scoreline prompted a crescendo of boos from the frustrated home fans and that seemed to spur West Ham on when they came out for the second half where David Moyes's side scored in 30 seconds.

IMAGE: West Ham United's Danny Ings celebrates scoring their second goal. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Reuters

Burnley failed to clear the ball soon after the restart and Lucas Paqueta pounced to run clear of the defence before slipping his shot past goalkeeper James Trafford to draw a roar of approval from the home fans.

West Ham thought they had scored a late equaliser when substitute Danny Ings scored against his former club but VAR ruled the goal out for Michail Antonio being offside in the build-up.

But Ings was not to be denied a goal and he made it 2-2 in the 91st minute when he controlled Mohammed Kudus's cross, turned on the spot and fired home.

Ings nearly won it for West Ham in the fifth minute of stoppage time when he blasted another strike at goal but the ball crashed off the crossbar and Antonio could not score from the rebound as the two teams shared the spoils.

IMAGE: Nottingham Forest's Nicolas Dominguez in action with Brighton & Hove Albion's Pascal Gross. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Own goal hands Brighton 1-0 win over struggling Forest

A first-half own goal helped Brighton & Hove Albion stretch their Premier League unbeaten home streak to a club record-extending 12 matches as they beat relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest 1-0 at the Amex Stadium on Sunday.

The home side, who came into the contest off the back of three defeats across all competitions, were the better side throughout the first half and got the lead in the 29th minute after defender Andrew Omobamidele accidentally bundled the ball into his own net following a free-kick.

Forest looked to offer an immediate response when Divock Origi made a run on the right side of the box, but his shot was saved by goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen. Forest kept threatening Brighton's advantage after the interval, but ran out of time.

The Seagulls rise to eighth in the standings with 42 points from 28 matches, while Forest stay at 17th place, three points clear of the relegation zone with 10 games to go.

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