Published
The Reds have won once morest the team of Granit Xhaka and are only one point behind the Citizens.
Granit Xhaka and Arsenal left feathers in the duel once morest Mohamed Salah and Liverpool.
AFP
Liverpool returned to a point behind leaders Manchester City by beating Arsenal (2-0), who once once more measured what separates them from the title candidates on Wednesday in a late match of the 27th day of the Premier League.
The Reds, with 69 points, took advantage of the small misstep of the Citizens (70 pts) once morest Crystal Palace (0-0), Monday, to further reduce the gap, while the two teams have the same number of matches play.
For Arsenal, this is an opportunity to consolidate 4th place, with 51 points, which flies away, especially as Tottenham’s victory at Brighton (2-0) brings Spurs back to 3 lengths, even if they have one more game.
This meeting was reminiscent of the one once morest Manchester City on January 1, where the Londoners had done better than equal play with the leaders, even leading in the score before losing control of the match just before the hour mark.
Arsenal unthreatening
Arsenal, with Granit Xhaka, never led once morest Liverpool and, to be honest, although he gave them a lot of trouble, they were very little threatening. Alisson still had to respond to a ball sent by Thiago Alcantara into the feet of Alexandre Lacazette, who had passed on to Martin Odegaard, whose shot was deflected above by the Brazilian goalkeeper (51st).
Defensively, Mikel Arteta’s men had also done an excellent job, conceding practically nothing, apart from a header from Virgil van Dijk from a corner, well repelled by Aaron Ramsdale in the 2nd minute. But once more, around the hour mark, Arsenal cracked.
City can shake
It was first a very nice vertical pass from Thiago Alcantara between the lines which allowed Diogo Jota to enter the box and take advantage of a good placement error from Ramsdale, who left his first post open, to open the scoring (1-0, 55th).
Seven minutes later, on a badly cleared ball, Andrew Robertson crossed at the near post and Roberto Firmino, who came on 6 minutes earlier in place of striker Jota, subtly deflected the ball into the six yards to double the lead ( 2-0, 62nd).
By sparing Mohamed Salah for almost an hour, without ever losing his calm, or upsetting anything in his game or his composition, Liverpool once once more showed what a “killer” he is and why Pep Guardiola and City must now sleep less sleep heavy.
The two rivals will only play once in the league before their April 10 meeting at the Etihad, Liverpool to host Watford and City at Burnley on April 2. If the title will not be decided on a match, a possible winner in this direct confrontation would take a certain psychological advantage.
Tottenham shows up
In the other game of the evening, Tottenham pushed Brighton a little further (2-0), for which it was the 6th defeat in a row. A shot from Dejan Kulusevski deflected by Cristian Romero (1-0, 37th) and a face-to-face won by the inevitable Harry Kane (2-0, 57th) were enough to make Spurs happy.
Very irregular, with eight wins and eight losses in the last 16 matches in all competitions, one succeeding the other almost regularly, the Spurs are still within reach of 4th place.
But to aim higher, we will have to try to chain the positive results, if possible on Sunday, with the reception of West Ham, a direct rival for Europe.
(AFP)
