Salah fires Liverpool to victory, Chelsea close gap at top

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah scores their second goal - REUTERS 

LONDON (Reuters): Mohamed Salah took his goal tally to 23 in all competitions with a second-half double to help Liverpool come from behind to beat Leicester City 2-1 at Anfield in the Premier League on Saturday.

Chelsea had no such struggles at home to Stoke City, with Mark Hughes’ men thrashed 5-0 at Stamford Bridge, as the league’s most porous defence couldn’t cope with their rampant hosts. Chelsea climbed to second, above Manchester United, after Jose Mourinho’s men were held to their third successive draw following a 0-0 stalemate against Southampton at Old Trafford in Saturday’s late kickoff. One of the performances of the day came at Vicarage Road where Swansea City netted two late goals to come from behind to beat Watford and climb off the bottom of the table, as Carlos Carvalhal’s tenure got off to a winning start. However, the spotlight once again was on Liverpool striker Salah, who continues to look unstoppable in front of goal.

Jamie Vardy once again scored against a “big six” side after being picked out by Riyad Mahrez in the first half at Anfield, and Leicester held on until Salah took centre stage.

Two neat second-half finishes took the Egypt international to 17 for the season, one behind Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane, with the goals sealing the victory that sees Liverpool move to 12 unbeaten in the league – their best run under Juergen Klopp – and opens up a four-point gap over Spurs in fifth. “He (Salah) can keep this standard for sure, he’s young, improving - it’s not only about scoring goals,” Klopp said. “He’s so important for us. He knows and I know he couldn’t score so many without the fantastic support from the other boys. I think he can keep the standard.” Four points ahead of Liverpool, Chelsea were out of sight after 23 minutes against Stoke with goals from Antonio Rudiger, Danny Drinkwater and Pedro putting the champions in command.

Willian’s second-half penalty and a Davide Zappacosta goal put the seal on a fourth win in five league games for Antonio Conte’s men.

“We know we must continue to work and improve, and prepare for a very difficult game against Arsenal,” said Conte, whose second-placed side are now 13 points behind Manchester City.

“Every win is important for us, today it was important to get three points to continue our positive run.”

Man City winning run ends in draw at Crystal Palace

AFP: Manchester City’s long winning run of 18 Premier League games finally came to an end on Sunday when Crystal Palace held them to a 0-0 draw.

The stalemate means Pep Guardiola’s side failed to match the record mark of 19 straight wins in Europe’s top five leagues set by Bayern Munich -- also managed by Guardiola -- in 2013/14.

United slip to third after goalless draw with Southampton

• Lukaku carried off on a stretcher following head injury

Reuters: Manchester United’s dismal run of results in December continued with a third consecutive Premier League draw as they were held 0-0 at home to Southampton on Saturday, dropping to third in the standings.

United had top scorer Romelu Lukaku carried off on a stretcher early in the game and looked stricken of any thrust or creativity in attack, ending the month with four wins from nine matches in all competitions and without a victory in their last four.

United began December with a 100 percent record in the league and Europe at Old Trafford but have now failed to win three of their last four home games.

The run of results has left them third in the league with 44 points, 14 behind leaders Manchester City and one behind champions Chelsea, who moved up to second. Southampton came to Old Trafford having been hammered 5-2 by Tottenham Hotspur on Boxing Day and after selling defender Virgil van Dijk to Liverpool but they were rarely in danger of going behind. They ended a run of 11 league games without recording a clean sheet and move up to 13th in the standings on 20 points.