London, Dec 23: Liverpool heads into Christmas with a four-point lead, a game in hand and as the overwhelming title favourite in the Premier League on the back of a wild 6-3 win at Tottenham.
As for Manchester United and its new manager Ruben Amorim, they stumble into the festive period in 13th place – as low as they’ve been at Christmas since the 1989-90 season – and with a familiar sinking feeling.
United lost 3-0 at home to Bournemouth for the second straight season, the latest statistic to show just how far this English giant has fallen and the job Amorim has to turn around its fortunes.
Worse for United, it seems like great rival Liverpool cannot be stopped.
Make that 21 games in all competitions without defeat after the Reds’ biggest league win of the season, with Mohamed Salah netting two of the goals to move above Manchester City’s Erling Haaland to the top of the scoring charts.
Liverpool has 39 points from 16 games and stretched its lead over second-place Chelsea, which could only draw 0-0 at Everton, to end a five-match winning streak in the league.
Goal fest
Salah now has 15 goals in the Premier League to break a tie with Haaland – and will leave London thinking he should have had more.
In an end-to-end contest resembling a basketball match, Liverpool scored more than five goals for the first time this season, with Luis Diaz (two), Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai also netting.
“You can see quality players with top discipline,” Tottenham captain Son Heung-min said. “There’s a reason they are top. If you give them a mistake, they punish you.”
Tottenham’s injury-hit defence was open at the back but its attack caused Liverpool’s problems throughout, with James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke all finding the net.
Spurs are another big team in the bottom half, having slipped to 11th place.
‘Saka to be out for weeks’
Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka is expected to be out for “many weeks” with a hamstring injury, manager Mikel Arteta said Monday.
Saka limped off during the first half of Arsenal’s 5-1 win at Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday and was pictured leaving the stadium on crutches after the match.
“It is not looking good. He will be out for many weeks,” Arteta told a news conference ahead of Thursday’s home game against Ipswich. “I cannot be too specific because I don’t know, but it will be many weeks.”
Arsenal is third in the Premier League heading into the busy Christmas schedule, with a home game against Manchester United in the FA Cup and the League Cup semifinals against Newcastle also on the horizon in January.
Making matters worse for Arsenal is that fellow right winger Raheem Sterling will also be out for “weeks” with a knee injury, Arteta said.
“(Sterling) needs some further testing tomorrow to understand the extent of the injury,” Arteta said. “It’s his knee and we have to wait another 24 hours, but unfortunately he’s going to be out for a while.”
Saka has been Arsenal’s main attacking threat this season and has been directly involved in 15 of the team’s 34 league goals, scoring five and adding 10 assists.
“Obviously he’s a big player for us,” Arteta said. “You just have to see the impact that he has on the team, but it’s going to be a really good exercise for all of us to think about ways to overcome another challenge, because we’ve already had a lot in the season.” (AP)
