LONDON, Dec 12: Jorginho converted his second penalty of the game in stoppage time for Chelsea to beat Leeds 3-2 on Saturday and put the team’s English Premier League title chase back on track.
The Italy midfielder played through the pain of an ongoing back issue to ease the Blues’ midfield injury problems, with N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic sidelined.
And he stepped up to score his 14th and 15th Premier League spot kicks for Chelsea to keep his side two points behind leader Manchester City.
Raphinha converted his own penalty to give Leeds an early lead, only to concede a spot kick at the other end when scything down Toni Rudiger. Rudiger then won Chelsea’s second penalty in injury time, when fouled by Mateusz Klich.
Leeds thought it earned a point after teenage forward Joe Gelhardt climbed off the bench to level at 2-2 in the 83rd minute.
Chelsea won only two of its previous five league games to slip out of first place and manager Thomas Tuchel demanded his team stop playing too cautiously when in the lead. But the hosts again failed to take control for large swathes of a tetchy encounter.
Liverpool vs Aston Villa
Steven Gerrard’s return to Anfield ended in disappointment as Mohamed Salah’s second-half penalty gave Liverpool a 1-0 win over Aston Villa in the English Premier League on Saturday.
Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez frustrated Liverpool until Tyrone Mings pulled down Salah in the 67th minute, and the Egypt forward converted his 15th consecutive successful penalty.
The win kept Liverpool one point behind leader Manchester City and a point ahead of Chelsea in the three-way title race.
Gerrard came to the game having made a good start to Premier League management with three wins in four matches and a narrow defeat to Manchester City. But he adopted a defensive game plan against his former club.
Liverpool forced Martinez into a couple of low, near-post saves in the first half and Virgil van Dijk had a header parried over by the goalkeeper early in the second.
But the host’s pressure finally told when Salah got behind Villa’s defensive line and was hauled down by Mings.
Salah tucked the penalty past the goalkeeper’s dive and inside his left-hand post, becoming only the second player in Premier League history after Jamie Vardy to score or assist in 14 consecutive matches.
Arsenal vs Southampton
Martin Odegaard scored for a third straight game as Arsenal eased to a 3-0 victory over Southampton in the English Premier League on Saturday to end a run of two straight losses.
Arsenal was without captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who was dropped from the squad for disciplinary reasons, but Alexandre Lacazette started in his place and netted the opener in the 21st minute.
The French striker finished off a flowing move that started with goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale playing the ball out of the back and ended with Bukayo Saka crossing for Lacazette to sweep into the net for his first goal since mid-October.
Odegaard doubled the lead just six minutes later by heading home a cross.
Southampton looked vulnerable on counters after that and Arsenal added the third in the 62nd when defender Gabriel headed home Gabriel Martinelli’s corner – just three minutes after the center back had a scrambled effort ruled out for offside.
Martinelli and Saka then both hit the woodwork as Arsenal threatened to overwhelm the visitors. The win put Arsenal a point behind fourth-placed West Ham.
Norwich vs Man United
Ralf Rangnick earned a second straight win as United’s interim manager thanks to Ronaldo’s penalty in the 75th minute. It was Ronaldo’s 13th goal of the season and put United in fifth place, level on points with fourth-placed West Ham. (AP)
