Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool on Sunday remain tied at the top of the English Premier League after both were held to 1-1 draws at Crystal Palace and Fulham respectively, while Pierre-Emerick Aubamyeng’s own-goal condemned Arsenal to another shock home defeat, going down 1-0 to Burnley.
Leicester City took advantage of the slipups by the top two to close to within one point of the leaders as James Maddison scored twice in a 3-0 rout over Brighton & Hove Albion, while Southampton moved up to fourth as they also comfortably saw off Sheffield United 3-0.
Liverpool and Tottenham face each other at Anfield tomorrow and, after Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United failed to win on Saturday, they both missed the chance to open up a gap at the top.
Photo: AFP
The champions needed a Mohamed Salah penalty 11 minutes from time to avoid an embarrassing defeat at Fulham after a dreadful first-half performance left Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp seething on the touchline.
“We needed half an hour to get our feet in the game, that’s why I shouted a bit at them,” Klopp said. “I think in the first half an hour we could have lost the game, in the last 60 minutes we should have won it. In the end we get a point and that’s it.”
A thunderous finish into the far corner by Bobby DeCordova-Reid to take the lead was no more than Scott Parker’s side deserved as the returning Alisson Becker kept Liverpool in the game before halftime.
Liverpool dominated the second half to pin Fulham back, but needed a penalty to salvage a point when Aboubakar Kamara was penalized for handling Georginio Wijnaldum’s free-kick.
Salah slammed the penalty low and just beyond the grasp of Alphonse Areola, but Fulham comfortably saw out the final 10 minutes to the delight of 2,000 fans at Craven Cottage.
Palace could also count on the return of fans to Selhurst Park for the first time in nine months to inspire a second-half fightback against Spurs.
Harry Kane opened the scoring thanks to a goalkeeping howler from Vicente Guaita as he misjudged the England captain’s long-range effort.
Spurs then sat on their lead and failed to hold out for a sixth consecutive Premier League clean sheet when Hugo Lloris failed to hold Eberechi Eze’s free-kick and Jeffrey Schlupp swept home the rebound.
“We lost two points,” Spurs coach Jose Mourinho said. “From 45 to 75 minutes we couldn’t play or build from the back and we made lots of mistakes.”
Guaita then redeemed himself with a pair of outstanding saves to deny Kane and Eric Dier as Spurs suddenly found their attacking thrust again after the equalizer.
At the other end of the table, Arsenal are now just five points above the relegation zone after a self-inflicted defeat to Burnley.
Granit Xhaka’s needless red card for grabbing Ashley Westwood by the throat turned the game in Burnley’s favor, before Aubameyang flicked Westwood’s corner into his own net 17 minutes from time.
“Again we throw the game away with a silly red card,” said Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta, who described Nicolas Pepe’s sending-off against Leeds United last month as “unacceptable.”
“It’s the same word [unacceptable] and in these conditions, where we are not winning football matches, even worse,” he said.
The Gunners failed to score from open play for the seventh time in eight games as Burnley held on for their first ever win over Arsenal in the Premier League to move out of the relegation zone.
Leicester edged Southampton for the performance of the weekend as the Foxes blew Brighton away inside 45 minutes at the King Power Stadium.
Maddison was back to his best after a series of injury problems with two brilliant finishes either side of Jamie Vardy’s 12th goal of the season.
Southampton are just two points off the top and face troubled Arsenal next as goals from Che Adams, Stuart Armstrong and Nathan Redmond wrapped up their fifth victory in the past seven games.
“I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t continue what we’re doing at this moment,” Southampton manager Ralph Hassenhuttl said.
Sheffield United remain without a win this season, having lost 11 of their 12 games.
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