Divock Origi celebrates with Mohamed Salah after scoring a goal during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Everton.
Liverpool closed a one-point gap at the top of the Premier League standings after a tight 2-0 win over Everton in the Merseyside derby on Sunday.
With Manchester City taking a four-point lead over Liverpool at the top with a 5-1 demolition of Watford on Saturday, Jurgen Klopp’s side struggled to break Everton in a poor first half at Anfield.
Second-half goals from Andrew Robertson and Divock Origi were enough for Liverpool in a match that ended with enthusiastic home fans singing “Going down, going down” to their rivals at Stanley Park.
Completing a disappointing day for Everton was relegation rival Burnley who won their second straight game since firing Wolverhampton 1–0 at home to their long-serving manager Sean Dyche.
This left Everton in third-to-last place and two points below Burnley, who eventually moved out of the relegation zone.
Everton, who have been in the top division every year since the 1954–55 season, have played one game less than Burnley but have featured a tough run-in against Chelsea, Arsenal and in-form Brentford.
More importantly for Liverpool, the team is one point behind City with five games left in the title race which looks set to go into the final weekend.
In other games, Chelsea beat West Ham 1–0 via Christian Pulisic in the 90th minute and cemented third place, five points away from Arsenal in the fourth. Brighton drew 2-2 at home to Southampton.
Feisty Derby
Everton’s desperation to avoid another demoralizing defeat on the road saw the team take sportsmanship to new levels, clearly a vision of manager Frank Lampard that may have come straight out of a former mentor’s playbook. Was. Jose Mourinho famously came to Anfield with Chelsea in 2014 and scored a win that derailed the Reds’ title bid.
Everton could not match perfectly, but still disappointed Liverpool and home fans felt something for the old-school derby, as tackles flew away, players squared off and even The managers also exchanged words.
“The game plan was understanding that they are one of the best teams in the world, which they have been doing with other teams lately,” Lampard said, probably in response to Manchester United’s 4-0 clash with Liverpool on Tuesday. for.
Oriji’s arrival – mostly overlooked this season – proved decisive as a substitute at the hour mark, with his game-changing performance adding to his Derby legacy.
He played a part in Robertson’s goal, a header from Mohamed Salah’s clever cross, and then ended things with a close-range header five minutes from time for his sixth goal in nine derbys.
Liverpool’s quadruple chase begins on Wednesday, when it hosts Villarreal in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Everton have six games to save their season.
resurgent burnley
Burnley’s resurgence is making things awkward for Everton.
Since ending Deutsche’s nine-year stint as manager, Burnley have sought a different team with more attacks and even walked away from their tried-and-tested 4-4-2 formation against Wolves. instead of playing three up front.
The two strikers combined for the goal, crossing Weghorst for Matej Vydr to score in the 62nd.
Burnley are now just two points behind Leeds, who play Crystal Palace on Monday and have been put in danger of relegation.
“By achieving these results, I think what they have achieved this week psychologically for the group will help them, bring them even more together,” said interim manager Mike Jackson, who was unsure whether He will still be in charge for it. Next-to-last big match next weekend at Watford.
Police makes point
Pulisic could get some more game time at Chelsea.
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has taken the likes of Timo Werner and Mason Mount’s front three on either side of Kai Havertz in recent weeks, saying Pulisic has “struggled a bit” since coming back from the March international break. when he had three matches with the United States. ,
“He struggled with energy, that was my impression, on and off the pitch,” Tuchel said.
“Sometimes it happens. Now we have tried to get him back from the bench with full confidence and I am happy with today’s effort.
Pulisic converted a cross from Marcos Alonso to turn blush from teammate Jorginho, who scored a penalty on West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianci in the 87th minute after his trademark hop-and-skip run-up.
Craig Dawson brought down Romelu Lukaku for a penalty and was eventually shown a red card after the VAR check.
AP. with inputs from