Despite having missed a penalty, Manchester City (1st) caused this Sunday the third consecutive defeat at home for Liverpool (4-1), which sees its chances of revalidating the Premier League title after 23 games seriously compromised.
With this victory, City, who had not won at Anfield with Spanish coach Pep Guardiola at the helm, now have a five-point advantage over their first pursuer, Manchester United, who punctured on Saturday against Everton (3-3) and ten with Liverpool (4th) … and with one game less than their rivals.
Chelsea (5th) has one point less than the Reds, who beat 2-1 at bottom Sheffield United. It was the third consecutive triumph for new coach Thomas Tuchel, crowned with a decisive penalty goal from the Italian-Brazilian Jorginho (58).
Earlier, with the return of their striker Harry Kane, who scored a goal, Tottenham found victory once again by defeating West Bromwich Albion (19th) 2-0, and remains close to the qualifying positions for European competitions .
With 36 points, the Spurs provisionally occupy the seventh position, 7 from the podium, with one game less, while West Brom, with twelve points and 11 units of the first team outside the relegation zone, seems increasingly close to being sentenced to return to the Championship (second division), one year after being promoted.
Before this game, Tottenham had three consecutive defeats in the Premier, something never seen before for a team led by José Mourinho.
Injured against Liverpool, in the first setback of that series (3-1), the team had missed Kane and seemed to have lost his soul and dynamizer in attack.
The return of the captain of the English team did his team good, although this victory came against a team that has conceded 54 goals in 23 games.
In a game that was widely dominated, the London team had to wait until the second half to score the first goal, scored by Kane, which ended with a kick off a pass from the Danish Pierre-Emile Hojberg (1-0, 54).
The second goal came four minutes later in a counterattack led by Brazilian Lucas Moura, who gave the decisive pass to South Korean Son Heung Min (2-0, 58).
A good balm for Tottenham, who must visit Manchester City on Saturday in a very different test.
In the other duel played on Sunday, Leicester (3rd) added a point (0-0) in their visit to Wolverhampton (14th).
– Results of the matches of the 23rd day of the English championship:
– Saturday:
Aston Villa – Arsenal 1 – 0
Burnley – Brighton 1 – 1
Newcastle – Southampton 3 – 2
Fulham – West Ham 0 – 0
Manchester United – Everton 3 – 3
– Sunday:
Tottenham – West Bromwich 2 – 0
Wolverhampton – Leicester 0 – 0
Liverpool – Manchester City 1 – 4
Sheffield United – Chelsea 1 – 2
– Monday:
(20h00 GMT) Leeds – Crystal Palace
Classification: Pts JGEP GF GC Diff
1. Manchester City 50 22 15 5 2 43 14 29
2. Manchester United 45 23 13 6 4 49 30 19
3. Leicester 43 23 13 4 6 39 25 14
4. Liverpool 40 23 11 7 5 44 29 15
5. Chelsea 39 23 11 6 6 38 24 14
6. West Ham 39 23 11 6 6 34 28 6
7. Everton 37 21 11 4 6 34 28 6
8. Tottenham 36 22 10 6 6 36 22 14
9. Aston Villa 35 21 11 2 8 36 24 12
10. Arsenal 31 23 9 4 10 27 23 4
11. Leeds 29 21 9 2 10 36 38 -2
12. Southampton 29 22 8 5 9 29 37 -8
13. Crystal Palace 29 22 8 5 9 27 37 -10
14. Wolverhampton 27 23 7 6 10 23 31 -8
15. Brighton 25 23 5 10 8 25 30 -5
16. Newcastle 25 23 7 4 12 25 38 -13
17. Burnley 23 22 6 5 11 14 29 -15
18. Fulham 15 22 2 9 11 17 31 -14
19. West Bromwich 12 23 2 6 15 18 54 -36
20. Sheffield United 11 23 3 2 18 15 37 -22
./bds