EPL Round-up | Liverpool and Manchester City fail to keep pace with Chelsea
Manchester City and Liverpool struggled to keep pace with
leaders Chelsea as they dropped points against Everton and Manchester United
respectively. City were thrashed 4-0 at the Goodison while United rallied to
secure a point against Liverpool at Old Trafford. United's winning streak comes to an end
The second Northwest derby of the season ended in a draw as
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a late equalizer after James Milner had put the
visitors ahead through a spot kick in the first half. The biggest game in
English Football got a massive build up, but it was a moment of madness by the
most expensive footballer in the world that opened up the game.
While defending a corner, Paul Pogba lost sight of the ball
and ended up punching the ball away inside the United box. Michael Oliver
awarded Liverpool the spot kick and James Milner beat David de Gea from 12
yards to give Liverpool the lead.
United created chances of their own but Ibrahimovic, Henrikh
Mkhitaryan, Pogba and Martial all missed their opportunities to level the
score. It was the big Swede, who went level with Diego Costa for the golden boot
race, who brought United back in the game with a goal in the 84th minute. The
draw ensured that United remained sixth, just two points behind City, while
Liverpool moved up a place, replacing Arsenal at the third spot on the table. "In
the end period of the game when United started playing long balls after 80
minutes of high intense football it is really hard," Liverpool manager
Jurgen Klopp said after the match.
Everton put four past City
John Stones' return to Goodison proved to be a forgettable
affair as the Toffees put four past Claudio Bravo to end City's title
challenge. Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring for the home side when he
side-footed a Kevin Mirallas played him in with a brilliant cut back. Just
after the interval, Mirallas turned goalscorer as he doubled Everton's lead
with a well-placed finish.
City huffed and puffed but never created any chances to
trouble Everton. As they had done for most parts of the game, Everton
retreated, soaked up the pressure and hit City on the counter. The tactic
worked like a charm as Tom Davies himself finished off a brilliant Everton move
that the teenager had started with a long run.
Ademola Lookman added insult to injury when he scored in injury time to
put Everton 4-0 clear of the visitors. After the match, when City manager Pep
Guardiola was asked if the gap between them and Chelsea was too large he
replied, "Yes. Ten is a lot of points."
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