Liverpool peeled away the gloom enveloping their season with a 2-0 home win over Premier League champions and fierce rivals Manchester United on Sunday.
Spanish striker Fernando Torres held off Rio Ferdinand to lash Liverpool in front after 65 minutes and David Ngog added a second goal in injury-time to spark celebrations at Anfield after four morale-sapping defeats on the spin.
The deserved victory revived Liverpool’s hopes of a title challenge, taking them to fifth place on 18 points from 10 games, four behind United and six adrift of leaders Chelsea, who went top on Saturday with a 5-0 thrashing of Blackburn Rovers.
PHOTO: AFP
Arsenal edged above Tottenham Hotspur ahead of next week’s north London derby into third place on goal difference, although their defensive fragility returned to haunt them as they let a two-goal lead slip at West Ham United to draw 2-2.
Robin van Persie and William Gallas had put the Gunners ahead by halftime, but West Ham replied through Carlton Cole and Alessandro Diamanti’s penalty at Upton Park.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Manchester City’s hopes of moving into the top four were frustrated when they also surrendered a two-goal lead in a 2-2 home draw against Fulham.
Everton lost 3-2 at Bolton Wanderers, another source of pleasure for the Liverpool supporters, whose mood would have been further enhanced by Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson’s later admission that his side had been second best.
“It was a disappointing performance in the first half. We didn’t handle the atmosphere or the decision against us,” Ferguson told Sky Sports. “Liverpool were the better team and created the better chances. They ... deserved their victory.”
A typically rumbustious match ended with only 20 players on the pitch after United’s Serbian centerback Nemanja Vidic and Liverpool’s Argentine midfielder Javier Mascherano were shown red cards in the frenetic closing stages.
Vidic, who was dismissed for hauling down Dirk Kuyt on the halfway line, was also sent off in both United’s league defeats by Liverpool last season.
“It was a massive win for us,” Torres told Sky Sports.
“We needed to win to stay in the title race,” said the Spain striker, who played with a pain-killing injection in a groin injury and was substituted after his goal.
Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez came under mounting criticism after league losses to Chelsea and Sunderland sandwiched between Champions League defeats by Fiorentina and Lyon.
He could smile on Sunday, however, after his team produced a display full of vim and vigor despite missing injured captain Steven Gerrard.
“It was about mentality, about everybody working together from the goalkeeper to the last fan in the Kop,” said Benitez, who gambled by starting with an “80 percent” fit Torres.
United supporters predictably released several beach balls before kickoff, a reminder of the freak goal that beat Liverpool at Sunderland the previous weekend, but they had little else to laugh about as their side were outplayed.
Liverpool dominated the first half with Fabio Aurelio’s free-kick being clawed away by Edwin Van der Sar, who also saved well from Kuyt’s follow-up.
Wayne Rooney’s header that brought a save from Pepe Reina was all United had to show for their efforts in the first half.
Liverpool continued to play the better soccer in the second period and made the breakthrough midway through the half.
Yossi Benayoun played a perfect pass to Torres, who outmuscled a lumbering Ferdinand before sending a rising shot past Van der Sar into the roof of the net.
Former Liverpool forward Michael Owen was booed on his return to Anfield when he came on for the disappointing Dimitar Berbatov.
As United searched for a way back, Owen was hauled down by Jamie Carragher who, according to Ferguson, was lucky to stay on the pitch.
After Vidic got his marching orders, Mascherano was shown a second yellow card for a lunge on Van der Sar, before Ngog ended United’s hopes of salvaging a point when he kept his nerve to slot the ball into the corner of the net.
English Premier League
Team | P | GD | PTS | |
1 | Chelsea | 10 | 16 | 24 |
2 | Manchester United | 10 | 10 | 22 |
3 | Arsenal | 9 | 16 | 19 |
4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 10 | 7 | 19 |
5 | Liverpool | 10 | 11 | 18 |
6 | Manchester City | 9 | 7 | 18 |
7 | Aston Villa | 9 | 5 | 17 |
8 | Sunderland | 10 | 3 | 16 |
9 | Stoke City | 10 | -2 | 15 |
10 | Wigan Athletic | 10 | -5 | 13 |
11 | Burnley | 10 | -12 | 12 |
12 | Bolton Wanderers | 9 | -1 | 11 |
13 | Fulham | 9 | -2 | 11 |
14 | Everton | 9 | -3 | 11 |
15 | Birmingham City | 10 | -4 | 10 |
16 | Blackburn Rovers | 9 | -11 | 10 |
17 | Wolverhampton | 10 | -7 | 9 |
18 | Hull City | 10 | -14 | 8 |
19 | West Ham United | 9 | -4 | 6 |
20 | Portsmouth | 10 | -10 | 4 |
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