Liverpool close gap on Man City, Chelsea thrash Burnley

Burnley, England, March 6 (BNA): Liverpool smashed its luck with a 1-0 win over West Ham United in the English Premier League on Saturday to move up the competition for leaders Manchester City, who face a derby clash on Sunday.

Sadio Mane’s 12th league goal this season, which was not far off in the middle of the first half, proved enough to secure the victory as Liverpool reduced City’s lead at the top to three points with both teams remaining with 11 games remaining, Reuters reported.

Asked if he would be interested in City’s match with fourth-placed Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said: “Of course we are interested in it but we have no influence on it.

“We have to win the matches we play. The ones we don’t play we don’t have a hand in. We don’t think about it or talk about it, we just try to win our matches.”

Earlier, Chelsea put aside their own property woes to consolidate their hold on third place with a 4-0 win over Burnley.

Leeds United slipped into more trouble after losing 1-0 to Leicester City under new coach Jesse Marsh, but Newcastle United’s comeback continued with a 2-1 win at home to Brighton and Hove Albion to keep them out of trouble.

Ryan Fraser and Fabian Schar scored a goal within two minutes for Newcastle team led by Eddie Howe, who then moved to extend his unbeaten run to eight matches after Louis Dunk reduced the difference for Brighton in the 55th minute.

Brentford dealt a heavy blow to bottom line Norwich City’s hopes of escaping the relegation zone and eased their fears when Evan Toni scored a hat-trick in a 3-1 win at Carrow Road.

Brazilian Philippe Coutinho of Aston Villa scored a goal and assisted another to defeat Southampton 4-0, while Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha scored the first goal and scored a penalty kick in the 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

hard win

Liverpool achieved its seventh consecutive victory and 12th place in all competitions with difficulty.

Mane hit a cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold in the 27th minute and the hosts had plenty of opportunities to give themselves some breathing space.

But West Ham, who hold fifth place, squandered stunning chances as Pablo Fornals misjudged a ball attempt after playing across the ball, Manuel Lanzini crossed the crossbar and Michael Antonio failed to take a clear opportunity.

Klopp said.

Chelsea, whose Russian owner Roman Abramovich put the club up for sale this week amid calls for sanctions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, scored four times after the break at Turf Moor.

Burnley missed a series of first-half chances but fell for parts after Reece James opened the scoring in the 47th minute.

German striker Kai Havertz headed a cross from Christian Pulisic and then turned James cross for the second time before the American Pulisic completed the scoring.

“It shows that the players have what it takes to play for Chelsea, and it clearly shows (they have) the environment to focus on football because we believe we are allowed to focus on football as well as possible,” said football coach Thomas Tuchel.

Chelsea is in third place with 53 points, 13 points behind Manchester City, while third-placed Burnley occupies its bottom with 21 points, a point behind Everton in the safety zone, but he played two more games.

Norwich downstairs has 17 points after a disappointing defeat to Brentford. Watford, who host sixth-placed Arsenal on Sunday, have 19 points.

Leeds, who sacked Marcelo Bielsa last week, suffered a fifth straight loss when Harvey Barnes won the Leicester match. They are 16th, two points above the relegation zone but have played more matches than all the teams behind them except Norwich.