Sports

Liverpool drop points; City romp; Sheffield stay winless

Sports Desk, Nov 28 (efe-epa).- Liverpool went top of the Premier League table Saturday despite having to settle for a draw with Brighton & Hove Albion.

In the day’s other matches, Manchester City feasted on struggling Burnley and Sheffield United set a new record for futility with a loss to West Bromwich Albion.

The Reds were leading 1-0 in stoppage time when a VAR check deemed Andy Robertson to have fouled Brighton’s Danny Welbeck in the box.

Pascal Gross drilled the penalty beyond Alisson Becker as a seething Jürgen Klopp directed some ironic applause at the fourth official.

It was Brighton’s second penalty of the contest at The Amex. Neal Maupay had a chance to put the Seagulls ahead with 20 minutes on the clock, but he fired wide.

The French striker left the pitch soon afterward with an apparent hamstring injury.

Mohamed Salah had a goal ruled offside in the first half and the deadlock persisted until the hour mark, when Liverpool’s Diogo Jota cut inside the box and slotted the ball into the bottom left corner.

The visitors thought they had the match won on a goal by Sadio Mane – Salah’s replacement – in the 82nd minute, only to see that one also disallowed.

James Milner came off the pitch in the second half, adding to Klopp’s already dire injury woes.

The draw sees Liverpool go top of the league with a one-point advantage over Tottenham Hotspur, who play third-place Chelsea on Sunday.

Riyad Mahrez’s first hat trick in a Manchester City shirt powered Pep Guardiola’s men to a 5-0 thrashing of Burnley.

An afternoon at the Etihad against a side sitting in the drop zone provided the perfect opportunity for City to return to winning ways in the Premier League after drawing with Liverpool and losing to Spurs in their last two matches.

Mahrez put the hosts on the scoreboard in the 6th minute with an assist from Kevin de Bruyne and made it 2-0 in the 22nd as the Burnley defense botched a clearance and Kyle Walker’s throw-in landed at the feet of the Algerian international.

The third goal came with four minutes left in the first half, when De Bruyne sent a great ball to Benjamin Mendy and the Frenchman beat goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell, whose first Premier League start in place of the injured Nick Pope was truly a baptism of fire.

Ferran Torres increased the margin to 4-0 in the 66th minute with help from Gabriel Jesus, three minutes before Mahrez headed-in Phil Foden’s cross.

City improved to 15 points, good enough for the eighth spot.

For 18th-place Burnley, it was a fourth successive 5-0 defeat at the Etihad.

The day’s most entertaining contest unfolded on Merseyside, where Leeds United nipped Everton 1-0 on a goal by Raphinha with 10 minutes left in regulation to end their winless streak at three matches.

The first-ever Premier League triumph for Leeds at Goodison Park came in a match that saw end-to-end action from start to finish and the newly promoted visitors had nearly 60 percent possession.

Three goals were disallowed, two of them Everton’s.

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