City new leader, Liverpool gives away 3-0 lead but still wins

It was already inevitable on Thursday after Manchester City’s 4-1 win over Arsenal, and it actually happened on Sunday: City took over the lead from the Londoners. Pep Guardiola’s team won 1-2 on a visit to Fulham.

In January, Arsenal still had an eight-point lead and the ‘Gunners’ seemed on their way to their first league title since 2004. But the team succumbed to the pressure and picked up only three points in the last four games, making title prolongation seem imminent for City.

With one less game played, the team from Manchester has a point lead.

At Craven Cottage, Erling Haaland opened the scoring from a penalty after only three minutes. It was already the Norwegian striker’s 50th goal in all competitions this season.

The last time a player from a top English league club was so prolific was in 1930/31. Tom Waring then scored fifty goals for Aston Villa.

Haaland is on the record hunt anyway, scoring his 34th league goal of the season. In doing so, he equaled the Premier League record held by Alan Shearer (1994/95) and Andy Cole (1993/94).

The penalty kick from which Haaland scored was earned by Julian Alvarez. The Argentine striker also scored the second goal later in the first half with a fine long-range shot. In between, former PSV player Carlos Vinícius had provided the equalizer on behalf of Fulham.

Manchester United did good business in the battle for Champions League tickets.The number four of the league table was 1-0 too strong for Aston Villa, which is ranked seventh. The top four teams in England qualify for the Million Dollar League.

Bruno Fernandes scored the only goal for United shortly before halftime, where Tyrell Malacia played the entire match and Wout Weghorst remained on the bench.

Manager Erik ten Hag’s team, with a game less played, is still two points behind Newcastle United. That team recorded a difficult 3-1 victory over bottom-placed Southampton. Newcastle’s last two goals came in the last ten minutes.

Liverpool gave away a 3-0 lead against Tottenham, but still won 4-3. In the third minute of injury time, Richarlison thought to save a point for the Spurs, but two minutes later Diogo Jota caused an outburst of joy at the other end.

Liverpool manager Klopp was cheering so wildly along the line that he appeared to get injured in the process. The German grabbed his hamstring and pulled a painful face.

The spectacular win saw Liverpool take fifth place from the London side. The ‘Reds are on the rise after a lousy start to the season and recorded their fourth win in a row.

Tottenham was led by 31-year-old interim coach Ryan Mason after coach Cristian Stellini was sacked this week following a 6-1 defeat against Newcastle. In the last four games, the Spurs picked up just one point.

Cody Gakpo gave the assist on Luis Diaz’s 2-0 and was substituted midway through the second half. Virgil van Dijk played the entire match for Liverpool.