Liverpool stunned by Brighton as being City move 3 points clear
04 February, 2021
Liverpool's Premier League subject defence suffered a good damaging blow while Brighton earned a shock 1-0 win at Anfield, while Manchester City moved three points crystal clear at the very top with a 2-0 victory against Burnley on Wednesday.
Jurgen Klopp's aspect paid the purchase price for a sloppy display due to Steven Alzate's second one half hit gave struggling Brighton a good memorable achievements at the expense of the injury-hit champions.
Brighton's first aside league win against Liverpool since 1982 was secured found in the 56th minute when Dan Burn headed a good cross towards Alzate and the Colombia midfielder flicked his shot within the far post.
Liverpool are languishing found in fourth place and trail Manchester City by seven factors, with the leaders positioning a casino game in hand.
The Reds' dismal defeat leaves them in desperate have to have of three points when in-form City visit Anfield for a crucial clash on Sunday.
Klopp's guys had looked rear on the right track after wins at Tottenham and West Ham last week.
But Liverpool have now lost successive home league game titles for the very first time since 2012 and haven't won a good top-flight match at Anfield in several attempts.
Their sudden collapse on home turf is amazing given they hadn't lost a home league game since 2017 before Burnley won at Anfield on January 21.
"A really tough week, several away games, several very intense game titles and tonight we appeared as if we weren't fresh enough mentally and physically," Klopp said.
"A lot of occasions where we gave the ball aside too easily. In moments the males looked tired mentally.
"We didn't look convincing. We make more changes and we've no rhythm so it's a problem."
Pep Guardiola's side had watched Manchester United pull level on tips with them about Tuesday after their bitter rivals crushed Southampton 9-0.
But City underlined their determination to hold onto top location with a composed, mature screen at Turf Moor.
Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring after a blunder from Burnley keeper Nick Pope and Raheem Sterling grabbed the next before half-time.
After a spluttering start to the season that threatened to derail their title hopes, City, who've a game in hand on second located United, are in pole position to dethrone Liverpool.
Consequently bleak was City's posture at one level that Guardiola expected to be thinking about qualifying for the Europa Group instead of winning the title.
"We must do our task. It's a large mistake to think about different sides," Guardiola said of the title race.
"When we had been 12th we had been thinking overlook the Premier League, if we are able to achieve appearing in Europa League up coming season."
- Slick City -
City go to the Liverpool showdown in a club record run of 13 successive victories in all competitions, including nine found in the league.
With Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne still sidelined by injuries, City's surge to the top is even more remarkable.
Last crowned champions in 2019, they are unbeaten on 20 matches in all competitions stretching back to November and also have conceded just 4 goals throughout that run.
Their latest rock-solid effort at the back equalled the club league record of six consecutive clean-sheets.
Leicester defeat struggling Fulham 2-0 to improve their outstanding away league record.
Despite the lack of injured leading scorer Jamie Vardy, Kelechi Iheanacho opened up the scoring for Brendan Rodgers' males and James Justin doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time.
Leicester now have eight wins out of 11 on the highway.
Jesse Lingard scored twice on his West Ham debut to clinch a 3-1 success at Aston Villa.
Tomas Soucek opened the scoring after 51 mins when he latched into Said Benrahma's move and drilled in to the corner.
Lingard, who all signed on loan from Manchester United the other day, struck in the 56th minute.
Villa's Ollie Watkins scored in the 81st minute, but Lingard bagged his second two a few minutes later as fifth located West Ham won for the fifth time in their last six group games.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Gylfi Sigurdsson scored found in Everton's 2-1 victory at Leeds, the 1st time the Toffees have won four successive away league game titles since 1985.
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