Leicester City upend Liverpool

Sports Desk, Dec 28 (EFE).- Leicester City ended 2021 on a high note, holding off second-place Liverpool 1-0 less than a week after the Reds eliminated them from the Carabao Cup.

For Foxes coach Brendan Rodgers, it was a second consecutive Premier League triumph against the club he managed from 2012-2015, while Jürgen Klopp saw his men squander a chance to narrow the gap to leaders Manchester City from 6 points to 3.

The visitors from Merseyside looked set to seize the advantage in the 14th minute after Wilfred Ndidi fouled Mohamed Salah and the referee awarded a penalty.

But goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel came up with a great save to deny the Egyptian, whose header off the rebound hit the cross-bar.

Schmeichel shined again in the 23rd minute, blocking Jordan Henderson’s downward header at the post, and went on to make fine stops against Diogo Jota and Salah to keep it 0-0 at the break.

Liverpool’s Sadio Mane fired over the cross-bar on a perfect opportunity in the 55th minute, seconds before Rodgers pulled Hamza Choudhury in favor of Ademola Lookman, who produced what would prove to be the game-winner in the 59th.

The Foxes climbed to 9th on the hard-earned point.

In Tuesday’s other action, West Ham United emerged from a three-game winless streak with a 4-1 victory over Watford.

The Hornets went ahead in the 4th minute thanks to Emmanuel Dennis, but trailed 2-1 at the break after conceding goals to Said Benrahma and Tomas Soucek.

Mark Noble converted a penalty in the 58th minute and Nikola Vlasic topped off the scoring in stoppage time as the 5th-place Hammers improved to 31 points, 4 behind Arsenal and 1 better than Tottenham Hotspur, who have 2 games in hand. Watford are 17th, 2 points above the drop zone.

Spurs, coming off a 3-0 drubbing of Crystal Palace, had to settle for just a point Tuesday against a Southampton side who played more than 50 minutes with 10 men.

James Ward-Prowse put the hosts up 1-0 in the 25th minute with one of the Saints’ two shots on target.

In the 39th minute, Mohamed Salisu – already on a yellow card – brought down Tottenham’s Heung-min Son in the box. The referee pointed to the spot and reached for his pocket.

Harry Kane brought Spurs level as Southampton girded for a second half where they would be down a man.

Kane scored again in the 53rd minute, only for the goal to be disallowed for an offside, while a Saints own goal in the 67th was struck off because the referee decided that keeper Fraser Forster had been fouled.

The point was enough to lift Southampton to 13th in the table.

Crystal Palace moved up to 10th with a comfortable 3-0 win against last-place Norwich City. Odsonne Edouard, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jeffrey Schlupp scored for the Eagles. EFE rmm/dr