Manchester City suffered a surprise 4-1 defeat by Liverpool, while Jamie Vardy equaled a goalscoring record to leave Leicester City as the shock leaders of the English Premier League on Saturday.
City started the late kickoff at the Etihad Stadium knowing a victory would see them go top on a day when the Premier League paid tribute to the victims of the Paris terror attacks, but instead Manuel Pellegrini’s men found themselves 3-0 down inside 32 minutes after an Eliaquim Mangala own-goal preceded two sweeping Liverpool moves finished by the Brazilian pair of Phillippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino respectively.
City pulled a goal back before the interval through Sergio Aguero’s long-range effort, but Juergen Klopp’s visitors had the last word when defender Martin Skrtel struck nine minutes from time.
Photo: Reuters
Pellegrini was at a loss to explain his side’s defeat.
“It is difficult to understand. If we meant to do it on purpose, we couldn’t have done it that badly. It is impossible to understand,” the Chilean manager said.
By contrast, delighted Liverpool boss Klopp told the BBC: “It feels perfect. The game was not perfect, but it was very good.”
Photo: Reuters
“The boys can believe now that they are stronger than many people think,” the German added.
England striker Vardy equaled Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of scoring in 10 consecutive Premier League games for his club by netting Leicester’s opener in a 3-0 win away at Newcastle United during first-half stoppage-time at St James’ Park.
Leonardo Ulloa’s header made it 2-0 in the 62nd minute, before Japanese substitute Shinji Okazaki assured Italian manager Claudio Ranieri’s side of victory seven minutes from time.
For the 28-year-old Vardy, it was the perfect afternoon’s work.
“I have matched Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record, and we have got the three points and [a] clean sheet,” Vardy said.
Arsenal, who could have gone top themselves, suffered an unexpected 2-1 loss away to West Bromwich Albion.
It was just their third league defeat this season.
The Gunners took a 28th-minute lead through France striker Olivier Giroud, but found themselves 2-1 down before halftime after James Morrison and an own-goal from Mikel Arteta put the Baggies in front.
Santi Cazorla had a chance to equalize late on, but blasted his penalty over the crossbar.
“Overall, it was a bad day,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “We scored an own-goal, missed a penalty and missed a lot of chances. It is very disappointing.”
Champions Chelsea eased the pressure on manager Jose Mourinho with just their fourth win in 13 league matches this season as they beat Norwich City 1-0 thanks to Diego Costa’s 64th-minute goal at Stamford Bridge.
“Me and the fans didn’t deserve to have our heart in our hands in the last four minutes. It is the pressure of the bad results, that is normal,” Mourinho said.
Manchester United made it eight games unbeaten in all competitions with a 2-1 win away to Watford in the early kickoff.
Watford captain Troy Deeney appeared to have gained a point for the hosts with an 87th-minute penalty, only to deflect Bastian Schweinsteiger’s stoppage-time effort into his own net after United had taken the lead through Memphis Depay.
“In football you always have 90, 93 minutes,” German midfielder Schweinsteiger said.
Everton ensured Aston Villa stayed bottom of the table with a 4-0 win at Goodison Park, with Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku scoring two goals apiece.
Stoke City striker Bojan Krkic gave his side a 1-0 win away to Southampton, while Swansea City came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at home to AFC Bournemouth, a heartening result for under-fire manager Garry Monk.
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