The race for Champions League qualification got even tighter in the Premier League after Chelsea beat recently crowned champion Liverpool and Newcastle dropped…
The race for Champions League qualification got even tighter in the Premier League after Chelsea beat recently crowned champion Liverpool and Newcastle dropped points at Brighton.
With a record-extending 16th defeat of the campaign, Manchester United could hardly be further from it all.
Liverpool’s players were afforded a guard of honor by Chelsea as they came onto the field at Stamford Bridge for their first match as champions. They didn’t really play like it, with Chelsea running out a 3-1 winner thanks to a third-minute goal by Enzo Fernandez, an own-goal by Jarell Quansah in the 56th and a stoppage-time penalty by Cole Palmer.
Virgil van Dijk’s header made it 2-1 at the time but Liverpool was off the pace for much of the game.
The win lifted fifth-placed Chelsea into a tie for 63 points with fourth-placed Newcastle, which needed an 89th-minute penalty by Alexander Isak to salvage a 1-1 draw at Brighton.
With Manchester City a point higher in third place and both Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa three points back in sixth and seventh, respectively, the fight to finish in the top five — and therefore qualify for next season’s Champions League — looks like going to the wire. Forest has a game in hand, at Crystal Palace on Monday.
The Premier League appears to hold little importance to Man United anymore this season, with a 4-3 loss at Brentford leaving the team languishing in 15th place on 39 points and already certain of recording its worst-ever total in the Premier League as well as its lowest finish.
