Leeds over Leicester, Liverpool defeats West Ham, Brighton blanks Tottenham
International Sports Desk, Jan 31 (efe-epa).- Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds ended Leicester’s nice streak with a 3-1 drubbing at King Power Stadium in the 21st week of Premier League action, the league currently being led by Manchester City, with Leicester sitting five points behind.
The locals got on the board first in the 13th minute on a tally by Harvey Barnes after a pass from James Maddison. Leeds, however, equalized just two minutes later when Stuart Dallas beat Kasper Schmeichel after receiving the ball from Patrick Bamford.
Bamford, in fact, was the key to Leeds’ victory, playing a part in all three of the team’s goals. He scored the second one in the 70th minute on a centering pass from Raphinha, and he assisted on the third by sending the ball to Jack Harrison for the score.
It was Leicester’s first defeat of 2021 after going on a seven-game no-lose streak since falling to Everton on Dec.16.
The win gives some stability to Marcelo Bielsa’s boys, who notched their second consecutive win and are currently in the middle of the table.
In other Premier League action on Sunday, Egypt’s Mohamed Salah led Liverpool to a 3-1 road victory over West Ham.
It was Jurgen Klopp’s second consecutive win keeping him and his squad within striking distance of Pep Guardiola just four points separating the two teams. Sitting in between them is Man United, one point ahead of Liverpool.
Liverpool waited an hour to get on the board at the London stadium, but once Salah came into action everything seemed to fall into place for the visitors and in the 57th minute he took a pass from Curtis Jones and did not delay in sending the ball into the net.
David Moyes’ squad looked for the equalizer, having racked up four consecutive wins in Premier League action, but Salah cancelled the London team’s hopes when he scored for the second time on a pass from Xerdan Shaquiri.
Georginio Wijnaldum was the architect of the third tally on a pass from Roberto Firmino, but three minutes later Craig Dawnson got the visitors on the board with a consolation goal.
Meanwhile, Tottenham – without the services of Harry Kane, but with Gareth Bale among the starters – fell to Brighton 1-0 on the road at the Amex Stadium, the win moving the home team a little farther from relegation, now seven points out of danger to be exact.
Jose Mourinho’s squad suffered its second consecutive defeat and remains out of the running for the European berth it had within reach after Liverpool’s defeat by West Ham.
The London team could have tied things up on several occasions after Brighton went on the board, most particularly on a shot by Carlos Vinicius that hit Robert Sanchez rather than going into the net.
Brighton’s goal was scored by Belgium’s Leandro Trossard about the 15-minute mark on a pass from Germany’s Pascal Gross, giving Graham Potter’s boys the lead, which they then maintained for the duration.
Tottenham, with Kane on the injured list, used an attacking threesome including Son Heung-Min, Bale and Steven Bergwijn but they were unable to manufacture anything on the board.
Mourinho removed Bale at the hour mark, replacing him with Lucas Moura but that didn’t work either.
