City keep Liverpool in sights with win over Chelsea

Manchester City kept Premier League leaders Liverpool in their sightsyesterday after battling back to beat Chelsea. Leicester saw offBrighton 2-0 to stay in second place, eight points behind Jurgen Klopp’smen, while struggling Arsenal needed a stoppage-time goal to draw 2-2with lowly Southampton.Liverpool’s hard-fought 2-1 win at Crystal Palace meant City went intotheir evening match against high-flying Chelsea 12 points behind thepacesetters. Frank Lampard’s men had the better of the early stages inManchester and N’Golo Kante gave them a deserved lead midway through thefirst half.But the lead lasted only eight minutes before Kevin De Bruyne equalisedafter a wicked deflection off defender Kurt Zouma left goalkeeper KepaArrizabalaga helpless. Pep Guardiola’s City were soon in the lead afterRiyad Mahrez cut inside from the right to fire a low left-footed shotthrough Fikayo Tomori’s legs and into the far corner and they held on toseal a vital 2-1 win.Earlier, Liverpool once again demonstrated their knack for scoringlast-gasp winners, with Roberto Firmino finishing from close rangefollowing a goalmouth scramble. Liverpool had looked set to drop pointsfor just the second time this season after Wilfried Zaha cancelled outSadio Mane’s opener in the 82nd minute.The European champions, chasing their first top-flight title for 30years, have now won 12 of their 13 Premier League matches this seasonand are unbeaten in 30 league games. “We are not out there to show weinvented football,” said Klopp. “We have a job to do to get results. Wedid that again. I have no problem that we were not brilliant today. Youjust have to make sure you are ready to fight for the result and we werethat from the first minute.”Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester kept up their dogged pursuit of the leaders,with second-half goals from Ayoze Perez and Jamie Vardy giving them afifth successive league win. In the early kick-off at the London Stadium, Son Heung-min, Lucas Mouraand Harry Kane were on the scoresheet for Spurs as Jose Mourinho won hisfirst game in charge 3-2 days after replacing the sacked MauricioPochettino. The win — the club’s first away league victory since January— will help to endear Mourinho to a sceptical Spurs support, who weresad to see Pochettino dismissed just six months after leading the clubto a first-ever Champions League final.Arsenal manager Unai Emery is under increasing pressure after anotherlimp display. They are now winless in five Premier League matches.Southampton took an early lead at the Emirates through Danny Ings onlyfor Alexandre Lacazette to level. James Ward-Prowse restoredSouthampton’s lead in the second half but Lacazette saved Unai Emery’sblushes with a goal deep into stoppage time.In-form Wolves won 2-1 at 10-man Bournemouth courtesy of a Joao Moutinhofree-kick and Raul Jimenez’s goal to climb to fifth in the table.Norwich lifted themselves off bottom spot in the Premier League with a2-0 victory away to Everton while Burnley won 3-0 at Watford, who arenow bottom. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United face SheffieldUnited today.Premier League results Arsenal 2 (Lacazette 18, 90+6) Southampton 2 (Ings 8, Ward-Prowse 71);Bournemouth 1 (Cook 59) Wolves 2 (Moutinho 21, Jimenez 31); Brighton 0Leicester 2 (Perez 64, Vardy 82-pen); Crystal Palace 1 (Zaha 82)Liverpool 2 (Mane 49, Firmino 85); Everton 0 Norwich 2 (Cantwell 54,Srbeny 90+2); Manchester City 2 (De Bruyne 29, Mahrez 37) Chelsea 1(Kante 21); Watford 0 Burnley 3 (Wood 53, Barnes 82-pen, Tarkowski 88);West Ham 2 (Antonio 73, Ogbonna 90+6) Tottenham 3 (Son 36, Moura 43,Kane 49)Playing today: Sheffield United v Manchester United (1630)Tomorrow: Aston Villa v Newcastle (2000)