Chelsea hold on against Brighton to consolidate top four spot

LIVERPOOL, England, Dec 16, (RTRS): Twosecond-half goals from substitute Xherdan Shaqiri gave Liverpool a 3-1 PremierLeague win over Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday as Juergen Klopp’s sideregained top spot with a pulsating performance in the North West derby.

Unbeaten Liverpool have 45 points from 17 games with champions Manchester City, who beat Everton 3-1 on Saturday, a point behind.

United are 19 points adrift of Liverpool in sixth place – the biggest gap between the clubs at this stage of this season for 46 years – and a daunting 11 points behind the top four.

Jose Mourinho’s side’s 26 points is their lowest return after 17 games in the Premier League era and the defeat, which could have been even more emphatic, is sure to re-open questions about the manager’s future.

Mourinho left French World Cup-winning midfielder Paul Pogba on the bench as he opted for a defense-orientated line-up but his attempt to get a third straight draw at Anfield ended in failure.

Klopp’s side were faster, smarter and more incisive than a United team again lacking any cutting edge and looking mediocre against opponents who look equipped to fight Manchester City all the way for the title.

Liverpool roared out of the traps and took the game to United, grabbing the lead in the 24th minute when Sadio Mane chested down a pass from Fabinho and slotted past David De Gea.

Against the run of play, United drew level in the 33rd minute when Liverpool keeper Alisson Becker spilled a harmless low cross from Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Lingard pounced on the loose ball to find the net.

The hosts continued to dominate but too often were restricted to long-range efforts and it was not until the introduction of Swiss international Shaqiri that the game turned decisively in their favour.

 Mane’s pull back from the byline took two deflections as it ricocheted to Shaqiri on the edge of the area and his shot flew off Ashley Young and into the top corner to make it 2-1 in the 73rd minute.

 Seven minutes later fortune was on Shaqiri’s side again as another deflected shot, this time off Eric Bailly, beat the helpless De Gea.

Brighton 1, Chelsea 2

Chelsea consolidated fourth place in the Premier League with a 2-1 win at Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday that became harder work than had seemed likely in the first half.

 Having won 4-0 at the Amex Stadium last season, they were on course for a repeat after taking a 2-0 lead at the interval.

 Eden Hazard set up the first goal for Pedro after 17 minutes and scored the second himself before halftime following a defensive error.

Brighton came back into contention through Solly March’s goal midway through the second half and Lewis Dunk went close to an equalizer.

The home side have not beaten Chelsea in any competition since 1933 but they stayed 13th in the table, nine points clear of the bottom three places.

Chelsea moved three points clear of London rivals Arsenal, who were beaten at Southampton.

Hazard, who had been outstanding when scoring twice in the 4-0 January win, made the opening goal with his ninth assist of the season.

Regaining possession after his shot was saved, he played a perfect pass to give Pedro a tap-in.

 Brighton contributed to their own downfall 12 minutes from halftime with a poor clearance by Leon Balogun.

Willian intercepted and from his own half sent Hazard through to beat goalkeeper Mat Ryan.

From a position of apparent comfort, Chelsea came under pressure after Marcos Alonso had crashed a shot against the post.

The home team revived, halving their deficit when Bernardo headed back across goal for March to score, but Chelsea held on for an important win.

“We knew we needed to score a third goal, but we didn’t and conceded,” Hazard said. “You feel the pressure, but we managed the game well.

“We want to be top of the league at the end of the season. We know Man City and Liverpool are good teams and we don’t want the gap to be big.”