Agency :
Premier League (PL) leaders Liverpool opened up a seven-point gap at the top as they came from a goal down to beat Leicester City 3-1 at Anfield after second-placed Chelsea lost at home to Fulham and Manchester City’s woes continued on Thursday.
Arne Slot’s Liverpool could not have asked for a better start to a flurry of festive fixtures as goals by Cody Gakpo, Curtis Jones and Mohamed Salah sealed the points.
The victory extended their unbeaten league run to 13 games and put Liverpool on 42 points from 17 games.
Chelsea had earlier surrendered a lead at home to Fulham to lose 2-1 – Rodrigo Muniz scoring for the visitors in the 95th minute for their first victory at Stamford Bridge since 1979.
Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea have 35 points from 18 games.
Reigning champions Manchester City could only draw 1-1 at home to Everton with Erling Haaland missing a penalty as Pep Guardiola’s side slipped to seventh. Manchester United lost for the fourth time in five Premier League games, going down 2-0 at Wolverhampton Wanderers to sit in 14th place.
Liverpool suffered an early shock at a foggy Anfield in the last of the Boxing Day kickoffs with Jordan Ayew giving Leicester a lead in the sixth minute.
Leicester hung on until the stroke of halftime but just after Salah struck the crossbar, Gakpo curled an effort beyond Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk. Liverpool put Leicester under siege straight from the break and took just four minutes into the second half Jones converted a pass by Alexis Mac Allister. Salah then grabbed his 16th league goal of the season with a trademark finish to wrap it up.
“We cannot deny we are in a good place, but still one of the strengths of the team is we approach each game as a new one,” Gakpo said. “That keeps us humble.”
Chelsea took the lead after Cole Palmer danced past two defenders and slid the ball through Issa Diop’s legs.
But Fulham equalized in the 82nd minute when Harry Wilson headed home from close range before substitute Muniz clinched all three points for Fulham at the death.
It was Chelsea’s first league loss since a 2-1 defeat on Oct 20 by Liverpool.
Guardiola’s City have now managed only one win in 13 games in all competitions as their crisis showed no sign of ending.
Bernardo Silva put them ahead in the 14th minute but Iliman Ndiaye levelled before Haaland missed a penalty.
“Incredible how (City players) run and fight and do everything. Some games have not been good, but today, the case was it was well played,” Guardiola said.
