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Liverpool open huge 13-point gap as Arsenal held by Forest

rugby26 February 2025 23:10| © Reuters
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Liverpool opened up a 13-point lead in the Premier League with a 2-0 victory over Newcastle United as closest pursuers Arsenal played out a 0-0 stalemate at Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.

If the weekend's results appeared to have given Liverpool one hand on the trophy, Arne Slot's team now seem unstoppable.

Goals in each half by Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister were enough for Liverpool to see off Newcastle who slipped one place in the table to sixth.

Szoboszlai struck in the 11th minute when Luis Diaz cut the ball back for the Hungarian whose shot beat Nick Pope.

Mac Allister doubled the home side's lead in the 63rd minute after Mohamed Salah picked him out.

Liverpool have come through a testing run of fixtures with a draw away at Aston Villa followed by wins against Manchester City and now Newcastle and only a calamitous slump can now deny the club a 20th English league title.

"I think the desire to win trophies is driving us on," Mac Allister said. "We know that this season we maybe have the opportunity to win some, so we are really happy to work really hard and hopefully we can keep on going."

Arsenal's defeat by West Ham at the weekend knocked the stuffing out of the London club and while manager Mikel Arteta vowed not to give up the chase, a 0-0 draw at Forest was another nail in the coffin of their title dream.

 

Liverpool have 67 points from 28 games with Arsenal on 54, albeit having one game in hand. Forest have 48 points.

Manchester City climbed back into the top four as Erling Haaland scored the only goal at Tottenham Hotspur.

Haaland slotted in from close range in the 12th minute to become only the second player to score at least 20 goals in his first three Premier League campaigns.

The other player to manage that feat was Ruud van Nistelrooy for Manchester United from 2001-02 to 2003-04.

Manchester United were involved in a thriller against struggling Ipswich Town, eventually winning 3-2 with a Harry Maguire goal despite being down to 10 men.

A dreadful defensive mix-up gifted Ipswich an early lead through Jaden Philogene.

United turned the match on its head though as an own goal by Ipswich captain Sam Morsy and Matthijs de Ligt's close-range finish put the hosts in front after 26 minutes.

Patrick Dorgu was sent off two minutes before the break for a late lunge on Omari Hutchinson and Philogene scored again to send third-from-bottom Ipswich in level.

But United's 10 men took the points as Maguire popped up to send Ipswich deeper into relegation trouble.

"There's no doubt about it, this was a huge missed opportunity," Ipswich coach Kieran McKenna said.

United are 14th with 33 points while Ipswich are five points from the safety zone after a sixth defeat in seven games.

Jake O'Brien scored his first goal for Everton as the Merseyside club came from behind to draw 1-1 at Brentford and stretch their unbeaten run in the Premier League under returning manager David Moyes to seven games.

Yoane Wissa had given the hosts the lead.

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