Liverpool (dpa) – Liverpool FC stays close to leaders Manchester City in the English Premier League. For a long time, Chelsea had a difficult time against the defensively strong Crystal Palace.
Thanks to their offensive stars Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah, coach Jürgen Klopp’s Reds turned a deficit against relegation candidate Norwich City in just a few minutes on Saturday and won 3-1 (0-0) at home in Anfield. First, Liverpool reduced the gap to leaders City to six points. At the same time, club world champions FC Chelsea struggled to make it 1-0 (0-0) at Crystal Palace.
With a mixture of overhead kick and side kick, Africa Cup winner Mané (64th minute) equalized for Liverpool before Salah (67th) turned the game around with his 150th goal for the Reds. Goalkeeper Alisson provided the template for Salah with a wide tee shot. Winter signing Luis Díaz (81st) finally made everything clear for the Klopp team. Previously, the former Bremen Milot Rashica (48th) outsider Norwich shot into the lead. Liverpool’s Joel Matip had deflected Rashica’s shot past Alisson.
A week after winning the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi, Chelsea struggled against the defensive Crystal Palace for a long time. Just a few minutes before the final whistle, Hakim Ziyech (89′) scored the winning goal for coach Thomas Tuchel’s team. In the 75th minute, an alleged goal by Ziyech was disallowed after a minute-long VAR analysis because Romelu Lukaku had just been offside.
After 25 games, the Blues sit third in the Premier League table with 50 points, while Liverpool are second with 57 points. The two sides meet in the League Cup final at London’s Wembley Stadium next Sunday.