Steven Gerrard performed yet another rescue act for Liverpool by twice scoring for the Premier League leaders as they came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 against surprise package Hull City at Anfield on Saturday.
“If we want to stay top we have to take three points from these kinds of games,” Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez told Sky Sports.
Hull, who’ve already won away to Arsenal, Newcastle and Tottenham in their first top-flight season, stunned Liverpool when Paul McShane headed the Tigers into a 12th minute lead at Anfield.
PHOTO: AP
And they were 2-0 in front thanks to an own-goal from Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher.
However, barely two minutes later, Reds captain Gerrard scored from close range following a pass from Albert Riera.
England midfielder Gerrard, as he’s so often done before, continued to drag Liverpool back into the game with his second goal in the 32nd minute after Dirk Kuyt’s cross fell into his path.
“We are really disappointed because these are the kinds of games we have to win,” Benitez said. “We started the game really well, but then we conceded two goals with two big mistakes.”
Manchester United, in the reigning champions’ last match before heading to Japan for the Club World Cup, remained six points behind Liverpool after a goalless draw away to Tottenham Hotspur in the day’s late kick-off.
But it needed a superb, last minute, save from Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes to deny United all three points after he tipped a curling Ryan Giggs free-kick onto the crossbar.
Arsenal lost ground with a 1-1 draw away to Middlesbrough — a result that left the Gunners eight points off top spot.
Former Arsenal striker Jeremie Aliadiere secured a point for Boro after Emmanuel Adebayor had given the Gunners the lead.
However, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said: “We believe that champions are people who go on when everybody else stops. Nobody believes in us, but we can show we still believe and keep going.”
Aston Villa leapfrogged Arsenal into fourth place by coming from behind to beat Bolton Wanderers 4-2.
Villa were a goal behind against Bolton when Johan Elmander scored in the 17th minute. But Martin O’Neill’s men equalized eight minutes later when Gabriel Agbonlahor shot home.
Villa went ahead when Kevin Davies put Gareth Barry’s cross through his own net five minutes before halftime under pressure from Martin Laursen.
The Villa Park faithful celebrated a third goal in the 67th minute when Agbonlahor scored his second after turning in Ashley Young’s cross.
Roles were reversed 12 minutes from time as Young scored, before Davies pulled a goal back for Bolton.
Under-pressure Blackburn Rovers manager Paul Ince saw the second-bottom side lose their sixth straight league match in a 3-0 defeat away to Wigan Athletic.
Wigan, managed by Ince’s former Manchester United teammate Steve Bruce, were 2-0 up in 12 minutes as Blackburn’s porous defense again leaked goals.
England striker Emile Heskey opened the scoring in the 10th minute with a neat finish from Antonio Valencia’s cross. And two minutes later it was 2-0.
Blackburn keeper Paul Robinson’s clearance went straight to Mario Melchiot, who headed the ball into Valencia’s path and the unchallenged Ecuadorian struck a powerful shot into the bottom right corner. Lee Cattermole wrapped up the points in the 77th minute.
“To concede two goals in about 10 minutes, you don’t give yourselves a chance,” Ince said. “We’ve brought a lot of supporters here and we’ve let them down.”
Elsewhere, Sunderland climbed out of the bottom three with a 4-0 thrashing of basement club West Bromwich Albion.
Managerless Sunderland scored their first goals since Roy Keane quit as manager with Kenwyne Jones netting twice in two minutes at the Stadium of Light.
First Jones headed in Djibril Cisse’s cross in the 22nd minute, before following-up after Scott Carson blocked Cisse’s shot.
Andy Reid’s header made it 3-0 before the break and it was 4-0 soon afterwards, when Cisse scored with a penalty.
Australia midfielder Tim Cahill headed home in the 90th minute as Everton left it late to beat Manchester City 1-0, while Stoke City and Fulham played out a goalless draw.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB