Man City, Newcastle win away
LONDON: Luis Suarez celebrated his new contract by sending Liverpool to the top of the English Premier League thanks to two goals and another virtuoso display in a 3-1 home win over crisis club Cardiff City on Saturday.
Manchester City moved up to second despite a bizarre Vincent Kompany own goal in a 4-2 victory at lowly Fulham while Manchester United, in seventh, overcame West Ham United 3-1 at Old Trafford through Danny Welbeck, Adnan Januzaj and Ashley Young.
Uruguayan Suarez, who penned a new long-term deal with the club on Friday, expertly volleyed in Liverpool’s opener before setting up Raheem Sterling for the second.
Suarez then made it 3-0 with his 19th league goal of a great season on the stroke of halftime.
The easy win over 15th-placed Cardiff, and their beleaguered manager Malky Mackay, put Liverpool a point clear at the top with 36 from 17 games.
Arsenal, on 35 points, can take back first place by beating visiting Chelsea on Monday.
There were also victories on Saturday for Newcastle United and Stoke City while managerless West Bromwich Albion drew 1-1 with Hull City and there was a dour 0-0 stalemate between Sunderland and Norwich City.
Newcastle were 3-0 winners over Crystal Palace, while Stoke defeated Aston Villa 2-1.
“Luis Suarez was outstanding again in a very good team performance. The fluency of our football in the first half was excellent, and our pressing is now at a really high level,” coach Brendan Rogers said after the game.
“I do not think about the title. I still believe it is for Manchester City to lose.
“To have a player of the calibre in your ranks is first class. Luis is really happy at the moment, and his performance again was outstanding, he is a remarkable man and player.”
David Moyes could afford a smile on his face after the fixture.
“We played well today. I’m a wee bit disappointed we didn’t take some more opportunities and I was disappointed not to keep a clean sheet but we got done on the break,” he said.
“The job is to keep our head down and keep winning games. There is confidence among the players, we are creating a lot of opportunities right now. Danny Welbeck has a sore knee.
“Adnan Januzaj is doing really well. We are always hard on him, we always want more but he is doing remarkably well. He can score goals, he is a real talent.
“We would like to be doing much better, we want to be right at the top but we will continue to keep going.”
Man City’s Manuel Pellegrini feels the 4-2 result was closer that it appeared.
“The Premier League games are always close, especially when home teams are in bad positions in the table as they try to win points at home. We knew it would be difficult.” (Reuters)
