Liverpool goes prime of Premier League as Man Metropolis’s 32-game unbeaten streak ends at Bournemouth

Manchester Metropolis’s 32-game unbeaten streak within the Premier League resulted in a 2-1 loss at Bournemouth on Saturday.
| Photograph Credit score: Reuters

Manchester Metropolis’s 32-game unbeaten streak within the Premier League resulted in a 2-1 loss at Bournemouth on Saturday as Liverpool wrested again the lead within the title race.

Pep Guardiola had warned this week that his Manchester Metropolis staff may very well be “in bother” after accidents stored piling up, and people feedback rapidly proved prophetic on an eventful day that additionally noticed Arsenal lose 1-0 at Newcastle whereas Liverpool wanted a late comeback to beat Brighton 2-1 and go prime of the league.

The largest shock got here at Bournemouth, although, because the Cherries stunningly took a 2-0 lead at residence due to objectives from Antoine Semenyo and Evanilson after which held off Metropolis’s comeback try. Josko Gvardiol pulled one objective again within the 82nd whereas Erling Haaland had a header saved in harm time after which hit the publish from the rebound.

It was Metropolis’s first league lack of 2024 however second straight 2-1 defeat in all competitions after being eradicated from the League Cup by Tottenham in midweek, and the defending champion now trails Liverpool by two factors.

“At the moment we couldn’t deal with their depth that that they had and that’s why we misplaced the sport,” Guardiola mentioned.

All three main title rivals seemed headed for defeat after Newcastle gained within the early kickoff and Brighton then largely outplayed Liverpool within the first half at Anfield and simply may have led by a couple of objective on the break, however Liverpool turned issues round in lower than three minutes within the second.

Cody Gakpo’s tried cross sailed previous each teammate Darwin Nunez and the Brighton protection into the web for the equalizer within the 69th and Mohamed Salah’s elegant end within the 72nd sealed the win.

Salah was launched down the appropriate by Trent Alexander-Arnold on a fast counter, minimize inside a defender and curled an unstoppable shot into the web along with his left foot for a objective that put Liverpool two factors away from Metropolis in first place.

“We wanted one other second-half efficiency as a result of we had been outplayed within the first half,” Liverpool supervisor Arne Slot mentioned. “They had been higher on the ball, extra aggressive with out the ball. Then, the whole lot modified within the second half as a result of it was fully the alternative.”

Arsenal is now seven factors off the tempo and fell to fourth place behind Nottingham Forest, which beat 10-man West Ham 3-0, and the Gunners may discover themselves in sixth if Aston Villa and Chelsea each win on Sunday.

Additionally, Southampton earned its first win of the season due to Adam Armstrong’s Eighty fifth-minute objective in a 1-0 victory over Everton to climb out of final place. However fellow promoted facet Ipswich remains to be searching for its first win after giving up an injury-time equalizer in a 1-1 draw in opposition to Leicester.

The absence of injured midfielder Martin Odegaard proved expensive once more as Arsenal seemed devoid of creativity at St. James’ Park even after going behind early.

Alexander Isak’s early header was sufficient for Eddie Howe’s staff to finish a five-game winless run within the league because the hosts simply neutralized Arsenal’s struggling assault the remainder of the best way. It was the second yr in a row that Newcastle beat Arsenal 1-0 at residence.

Declan Rice had the guests’ greatest likelihood within the third minute of harm time however headed vast after a cross by Bukayo Saka.

“We wanted extra solutions, we did not (have them),” Arsenal supervisor Mikel Arteta mentioned.

Nottingham Forest and its free-scoring striker Chris Wooden are proving to be the shock package deal of the season thus far.

Wooden scored his eighth objective of the marketing campaign as Forest moved into its highest top-flight place in 26 years with a dominant efficiency in opposition to a West Ham staff that had Edson Alvarez despatched off for a second reserving in first-half harm time.

Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ola Aina additionally scored for Forest, which earned its third win in a row and likewise beat Liverpool away earlier within the season.

Whereas Forest appears rejuvenated beneath Nuno Espirito Santo, the strain is again on Everton supervisor Sean Dyche after a five-game unbeaten run within the league ended with a dispiriting loss to Southampton, which solely had one level going into the sport.

Everton thought it had scored an injury-time equalizer by means of substitute Beto but it surely was disallowed for offside after a prolonged VAR evaluation.