Steven Gerrard’s return to Anfield as Aston Villa manager ended in a 1-0 defeat by Liverpool with a 67th minute Mohamed Salah penalty keeping the Merseysiders a point behind Premier League leaders Manchester City.
There was little fanfare for Gerrard, the Liverpool-born former captain and Champions League winner, as he took his place in the technical area and from the opening moments it was clear that he had set his side up well to frustrate his old club.
Liverpool dominated the first half with Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez doing well to save efforts from Andy Robertson and Salah.
After the break, Martinez produced a brilliant reflex stop to keep out a powerful header from Virgil van Dijk but Liverpool’s pressure finally paid off when Salah went down in the box under challenge from Tyrone Mings.
The Egyptian fired home an unstoppable spot-kick to secure the win for Juergen Klopp’s side. Liverpool are on 37 points with leaders City, who beat Wolves 1-0 earlier on Saturday, on 38 points.
Arsenal cruise to 3-0 win over Southampton
Arsenal weathered storms on and off the pitch before coasting to a 3-0 Premier League win over Southampton on Saturday as boss Mikel Arteta dropped captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from the match-day squad for “disciplinary reasons”.
Southampton had the better of the opening exchanges on a rainy afternoon but it was Arsenal who took the lead in the 21st minute, breaking through the visitors’ high press before Bukayo Saka squared to Alexandre Lacazette, who fired home.
The Gunners went two up six minutes later when Southampton’s slack defending was punished by Martin Odegaard as Kieran Tierney’s attempted cross bounced back to him and he headed the ball back across the goal for the Norwegian to nod it home.
Defender Gabriel had a goal ruled out for offside on the hour mark but popped up again a few minutes later to make it 3-0 and leave Arsenal fifth on 26 points, while Southampton are 16th on 16 points.
Chelsea need late penalty to beat Leeds 3-2
Chelsea got their Premier League title challenge back on track with a dramatic 3-2 home win over Leeds United on Saturday, settled by an injury-time penalty converted by Jorginho who had earlier scored another spot kick.
The win left Chelsea in third place with 36 points, two off leaders Manchester City, who edged Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0, and one behind Liverpool after they beat Aston Villa 1-0.
Leeds went ahead against the run of play in the 28th minute when Daniel James went down under a challenge by Marcos Alonso to win a penalty that Brazilian playmaker Raphinha stroked home.
Chelsea, who lost last weekend at West Ham United, looked stunned as they contemplated the prospect of conceding more ground to table-toppers Manchester City.
But the Blues clawed their way back into the game when Alonso, trying to atone for his earlier error, stole the ball from Stuart Dallas, exchanged passes with Timo Werner and crossed for Mason Mount to score with a first-time angled shot.
Thomas Tuchel’s men turned the game around when referee Chris Kavanagh, after a VAR check, awarded them a penalty after a Raphinha challenge on Antonio Rudiger and Jorginho fired high into the net.
Chelsea were caught out in the 83rd minute when 19-year-old Joe Gelhardt, barely on the field as a substitute, connected with a Tyler Roberts cross to score his first league goal.
But just when the Blues looked like they had slipped further behind in the title race, Rudiger went down under a challenge by Mateusz Klich and Jorginho rolled the ball home, choosing the other side of the goal to his first penalty strike.
REUTERS