MY ACCOUNT
Liverpool’s title hopes were hit as Tottenham raided Anfield for a point on Saturday, snatching a 1-1 draw that made Manchester City the big winners of the day without kicking a ball.
City will go three points clear, with three games remaining, if they beat Newcastle United on Sunday.
Brighton inflicted fresh humiliation on a Manchester United side who must be used to it by now, crushing Ralf Rangnick’s travel-sick Red Devils 4-0 at the Amex Stadium.
Watford’s relegation was confirmed by a 1-0 defeat for Roy Hodgson’s team at Crystal Palace, while Chelsea frailties were exposed in a 2-2 draw with Wolves.
After a compelling Saturday of action, Stats Perform looks at key Opta facts from four key games.
Liverpool 1-1 Tottenham: Anfield twist in title race as Reds hope for Newcastle favour
It was a case of looking for consolations for Liverpool and Tottenham after this Anfield draw. One positive for Liverpool is they moved top of the table. Yet they only stood there on goal difference and knew they would relinquish first place on Sunday, unless City were to slip up in their game in hand and lose to Newcastle.
This was a game both sides dearly wanted to win, with Liverpool’s title prospects damaged and Tottenham, who led through Son Heung-min, unable to hang on for the win that would have taken them at least briefly into fourth place. They remain fifth.
Liverpool have lost just one of their past 28 Premier League home games against Spurs (W18 D9), and Luis Díaz, who netted a deflected equaliser, has scored in back-to-back appearances for the Reds in all competitions for the first time.
Tottenham became the first team to prevent Liverpool winning at Anfield in the Premier League since Brighton managed a 2-2 draw in October. Liverpool’s 12-match winning streak in that respect is now over.
There was no goal from Mohamed Salah on his 250th Liverpool appearance. He has 155 goals for the Reds and had three attempts in this game, but all were blocked.
Tottenham boss Antonio Conte may have faced some snippy post-match comments from Klopp about his team’s style of play, but the Italian has lost just one of his six Premier League encounters with Liverpool (W1 D4) and remains unbeaten against the Reds at Anfield in the competition (D3).
Son has 20 goals for the season in the Premier League, and he is just the second Tottenham player (after Gareth Bale’s 21 in 2012-13) to score 20 in a league season without any being penalties.
Brighton and Hove Albion 4-0 Manchester United: Seaside surrender guarantees worst Red Devils haul
Rangnick continues to make history at United, only not in the way he would have hoped.
United slumped to a fifth consecutive away league defeat after an abomination of a performance. It is the first time since March 1981, when Dave Sexton’s side were beaten in six straight road games, that they have endured such a dire run away from Old Trafford.
Rangnick does not take all the blame for United’s pitiful campaign, but he has been at the helm since November so cannot avoid carrying the can to some extent.
United have 58 points and only one game remaining, so they are certain to finish with their lowest Premier League season points tally (previously 64 in 2013-14), and they have conceded 56 league goals, which is the most they have shipped since 1978-79 (63 goals).
Brighton can hold their heads high, after the biggest top-flight win in their history, in what was their 356th match at this level. They have won four of their past six games in the Premier League (D1 L1), more than they had in their previous 25 beforehand (W3 D13 L9).
Chelsea 2-2 Wolves: Coady highlights weakness as new era dawns for Blues
When Conor Coady headed the late leveller at Stamford Bridge, it showed again how susceptible high-flying Chelsea have been in the second half of recent Premier League games.
Thirteen of the last 15 goals Chelsea have conceded in the competition have come after half-time in matches, and their once vice-like grip on third place no longer looks quite that way after the draw with Wolves.
Chelsea were watched by Todd Boehly, who leads the consortium that will complete a £4.25billion takeover later this month, and he saw Romelu Lukaku score his first Premier League goals since a draw with Brighton in December.
Lukaku’s double – a penalty followed by a 20-yard finish – came early in the second half. Wolves have not conceded a first-half goal in any of their last 17 away Premier League games, which is the longest such run in the competition’s history.
Trincao got the comeback started and Coady’s equaliser came six minutes and 29 seconds into stoppage time, making it Wolves’ latest goal in a Premier League game since Raul Jimenez netted an equaliser against Burnley 6:55 into time added on in an August 2019 fixture. Coady also made a team-high 10 clearances, twice as many as any other player.
Crystal Palace 1-0 Watford: Hodgson’s Hornets sunk by Zaha
Assuming he does not leave before then, this will be the first time in his managerial career that Roy Hodgson will end a Premier League campaign in the relegation zone with a team.
This short-term stint with Watford is set to mark the end of his career, and it was the former England manager’s old club Palace that delivered the blow that means there is no way back now for the Hornets.
Having fought their way back into the elite at the first time of asking, Watford are now going straight back down to the Championship. It means Watford have been relegated in consecutive top-flight campaigns for the first time since a run of three seasons that ended in the drop (1987-88, 1999-00 and 2006-07).
Wilfried Zaha, who struck the decisive penalty, became the first Palace player to score both home and away versus Watford in a league season since Zaha himself in 2011-12 in the Championship.
Since the start of the 2013-14 campaign, only Manchester City (52) and Liverpool (51) have scored more Premier League penalties than Palace (48), and this result marked the first time in 30 years (since a run of five between March and April 1992) that Palace have kept four successive home clean sheets in the top flight.
