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Chelsea hold City as Liverpool, Arsenal run riot

Sports Desk, Feb 18 (EFE) – Spanish midfielder Rodrigo struck a late equalizer to help Manchester City salvage a 1-1 draw against Chelsea as Liverpool and Arsenal recorded big wins in the English Premier League on Saturday.

Liverpool lead the three-horse race in the Premier League with 57 points following their 1-4 victory at Brentford, two points ahead of Arsenal, who beat Burnley 0-5.

Holders City had a chance to overtake Arsenal in second place should they beat Chelsea, but despite a monumental effort at Etihad Stadium, they fell short of a victory.

Former City forward Raheem Sterling fired Chelsea into the lead in the 42nd minute, curling his shot past Ederson into the right edge of the goal after he cut Kyle Walker down the left flank.

Chelsea defended extremely well to protect their lead but could do little to stop Rodrigo in the 83rd minute.

The Spaniard latched onto a rebound after a Walker shot ricocheted off a defender and rifled his shot from just outside the box that took a deflection off Trevoh Chalobah and went in.

City surged forward in search of a late winner and saw an injury-time VAR check for a potential penalty ruled out as their 11-match run of consecutive wins was finally checked.

“When you play against teams who have composure and prestige like Chelsea, you have to perform at our best for 94, 95 minutes,” said City coach Pep Guardiola.

“We started to play after conceding a goal. We were not at our best and it can happen in transition,” he added.

Mohamed Salah was among the scorers 47 days after returning to action for the club as Liverpool recorded a simple win at Gtech Community Stadium.

Darwin Nunez, Alexis Mac Allister, and Cody Gakpo were also on target for the Reds, who won the league game at Brentford for the first time since 1938.

“We played an exceptional game,” the boss said post-match. “[It’s] by far the best game since I’m with Liverpool here at Brentford. By far,” said Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp.

Ivan Toney netted a consolation goal for Brentford, who have now lost four of their past five league matches.

Having registered their record away Premier League win last weekend against West Ham, Arsenal went on a rampage again away at Burnley as Bukayo Saka scored a double, and Martin Odegaard, Leandro Trossard, and Kai Havertz also found the back of the net to give them a convincing win.

The Gunners have now scored 21 goals in five wins on the trot, raising their title credentials in no other season like this in the recent past.

“Really happy obviously with the performance and the result, with the individual and collective as well,” said Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta.

“The contribution of every single player has been very, very good and the fact that the team looked like it wanted more,” he added. EFE

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