Liverpool stay in EPL title hunt

April 22, 2024
Liverpool’s Diogo Jota scores their third goal during the English Premier League football match at Craven Cottage stadium in London, yesterday. Liverpool won 3-1.
Liverpool’s Diogo Jota scores their third goal during the English Premier League football match at Craven Cottage stadium in London, yesterday. Liverpool won 3-1.

LONDON, England (AP):

Liverpool stayed in the hunt for the English Premier League (EPL) title and moved level on points with leader Arsenal with a 3-1 victory over Fulham, illuminated by a brilliant free kick by Trent Alexander-Arnold yesterday

Liverpool bounced back from Thursday's exit to Atalanta in the Europa League quarter-finals and last weekend's home loss to Crystal Palace by winning at Craven Cottage after Jurgen Klopp dropped Mohamed Salah and Alexis Mac Allister to the bench.

Alexander-Arnold's curling free kick in the 32nd was cancelled by Timothy Castagne's first goal for Fulham in first-half stoppage time.

Ryan Gravenberch and Diogo Jota scored in the second half as Liverpool joined Arsenal with 74 points - one more than defending champions Manchester City, who have a game in hand.

Fulham academy graduate Harvey Elliott, who swapped London for Merseyside in 2019, was galvanised by jeers from the home fans as he helped Liverpool create the match's first chance.

The attacking midfield player instinctively picked out Alexander-Arnold, whose cross could not be directed in by Luis Diaz's glancing header as the ball narrowly missed the inside of the post.

ELITE ABILITY

Alexander-Arnold then showed off his elite ball-striking ability. First, he received the ball centrally and delivered a first-time side-footed pass behind Fulham's full-back Antonee Robinson before Diaz's low cross to Jota was struck wide of the right-hand post.

Then, after Joao Palhinha brought down Jota on the counterattack, Alexander-Arnold stood over the set-piece in an almost central position near the edge of the area and whipped the ball over the wall into the top left-hand corner.

The Cottagers had been quiet all half but came alive in added time to equalise.

Rodrigo Muniz's blocked header off Alex Iwobi's cross fell kindly to the unmarked Castagne, who slammed his effort home from close range.

Parity did not last long as, in the 53rd minute, Liverpool punished a series of errors to retake the lead. Iwobi's wayward pass found Elliott in a dangerous position and he opted to lay the ball off to Gravenberch, whose first-time curled effort flew past Bernd Leno to make it 2-1.

Liverpool wrapped up the win in the 72nd after Cody Gakpo's pass split the defence and Jota finished with a strike into the bottom right-hand corner.

OTHER MATCHES

In other EPL games, there were significant wins for Aston Villa and Everton and a huge win for Crystal Palace.

Villa rallied to beat Bournemouth 3-1 and strengthen their bid for Champions League qualification. Unai Emery's team stayed in fourth place but moved six points clear of fifth-place Tottenham, who have two games in hand.

Everton defeated Nottingham Forest 2-0 to push five points clear of the relegation zone and boost their chances of extending their 70-year stay in the top flight. Forest published a social-media post after the game which appeared to question the integrity of a match official.

Palace scored four goals in the first 31 minutes on the way to a 5-2 win over West Ham.

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