MONDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2018 16 Liverpool back on top Two deflected Xherdan Shaqiri strikes handed Liverpool victory over Manchester United English Premier League Eden Hazard ensures Brighton 1 - 2 Chelsea Chelsea• stay in touch at Southampton 3 - 2 Arsenal top with win at Brighton Liverpool 3 - 1 Manchester United

Charlie Austin Scottish Premier League rises• highest as Hibernian 2 - 0 Celtic Saints sink Arsenal Rangers 1 - 0 Hamilton in five-goal thriller Academical

AFP | London Italian Serie A SPAL 0 - 0 Chievo iverpool powered back to the top of the Premier Fiorentina 3 - 1 Empoli LLeague as Xherdan Shaqi- Frosinone 0 - 2 Sassuolo ri inspired a 3-1 win over bitter Sampdoria 2 - 0 Parma rivals Manchester United, while Arsenal’s 22-match unbeaten Cagliari 0 - 0 Napoli run was shattered by a shock 3-2 defeat at Southampton yes- German Bundesliga terday. Jurgen Klopp’s side made it RB Leipzig 4 - 1 1. FSV Mainz 05 six successive league victories Eintracht Frankfurt 1 - 0Bayer 04 Leverkusen thanks to Shaqiri’s late double Liverpool’s Swiss midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri (L) shoots to score their third goal after United’s Jesse Lingard Spanish La Liga had cancelled out Sadio Mane’s league title since 1990. and Lingard finished off the re- the Gunners. opener at Anfield. Senegal winger Mane put Liv- bound. Austin settled a thrilling clash Sevilla 2 - 0 Girona Shaqiri’s superb substitute erpool ahead in the 24th min- Alisson’s error didn’t prove at St Mary’s when he headed Espanyol 1 - 3 Real Betis cameo allowed Liverpool to reo- ute when he broke away from costly as Switzerland midfield- home with just five minutes left Huesca 0 - 0 Villarreal pen a one point lead over second Ashley Young to meet Fabinho’s er Shaqiri struck within three after Arsenal goalkeeper Leno placed Manchester City after sublime pass with a nimble piece minutes of coming off the bench, misjudged Shane Long’s cross. the champions had knocked the of chest control before shooting his shot flicking off the hapless Southampton had twice taken French Ligue 1 Reds out of first place with their past David De Gea. Young into the roof of the net in the lead through Danny Ings, Nimes 2 - 3 Lille win against Everton on Saturday. United equalised against the the 73rd minute. only for Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s Nice 1 - 1 St Etienne Liverpool’s first win in their run of play in the 33rd minute Shaqiri ensured Liverpool brace to draw Arsenal level on *Scores as of closing last six meetings with Unit - as Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson would return to the top in the each occasion. Leno’s mistake ed ended a frustrating streak Becker made a hash of catch- 80th minute with a stinging handed Arsenal their first defeat tighten up at the back, Emery ninth assist of the season for against the Old Trafford outfit ing Romelu Lukaku’s low cross strike that clipped the foot of in 15 league games and brought said: “We haven’t conceded a lot Pedro to open the scoring and that dated back to March 2016, United defender Eric Bailly on a stunning halt to their longest of chances but today they scored then chalked up his ninth goal while also extending their un- its way past De Gea. unbeaten run in all competitions three goals. That is a lot so we of the campaign, but first in 13 beaten start to the league season United are now 19 points be- since 2007. need to improve with this. games for club and country. to 17 matches. hind Liverpool in sixth place as Emery’s fifth-placed team “We need to do some analysis Solly March pulled one back While that was cause for We haven’t conceded the pressure mounts on Mourin- had not lost since a 3-2 defeat on how we can improve and do with his first goal of the cam- pre-Christmas revelry on the a lot of chances but ho following another wretched at Chelsea in August and the better.” paign, but Chelsea held on to Kop, more significantly, Liver- today they scored three display. north Londoners’ first setback Chelsea put a week of negative restore some positivity after pool’s refusal to be subdued by goals. That is a lot so Meanwhile, Unai Emery ad- since the close-season leaves headlines for the behaviour of Blues fans were involved in al- a United team set up by Jose mitted Arsenal need to fix their them three points behind the their fans behind them on the leged racist abuse of Manchester Mourinho with five defenders we need to improve leaky defence after Southamp- fourth-placed Blues, who won field thanks to an inspired Eden City’s Raheem Sterling and an- was another statement of in - with this ton’s Charlie Austin punished a 2-1 at Brighton yesterday. Hazard at Brighton. ti-semitic chants during a mid- tent as they chase a first English UNAI EMERY, ARSENAL’S MANAGER howler from Bernd Leno to stun Conceding Arsenal need to The Belgian provided his week Europa League tie. Sevilla pile pressure on RB Leipzig thrash Mainz to Barcelona at La Liga summit strengthen grip on top-four spot

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evilla reclaimed second imo Werner and Yus - Splace in La Liga yester - Tsuf Poulsen both scored day as second-half strikes twice as RB Leipzig brushed from Ever Banega and Pablo aside Mainz 4-1 yesterday to Sarabia sealed a 2-0 win over strengthen their hold on a top- Girona which moved them four place in the Bundesliga. level on points with leaders Ralf Rangnick’s men went Barcelona. into the game reeling after a Pablo Machin’s side are un- surprise elimination from the beaten in seven league games Europa League group stage in since a 4-2 loss at Barca. midweek and last weekend’s The hosts had to wait until 3-0 loss to Freiburg. the 55th minute to break the But Leipzig produced a deadlock, when striker Andre strong performance at the Silva was tripped in the area by Red Bull Arena to close to two Girona defender Juanpe. points behind second-placed Argentinian Banega stepped Borussia Moenchengladbach up to send visiting goalkeeper and Bayern Munich in third, Gorka Iraizoz the wrong way although unbeaten Borussia from the penalty spot. Dortmund remain nine points The points were wrapped clear at the top of the table. up only nine minutes later, Any disappointment about as Wissam Ben Yedder cut recent results was quickly the ball back for the onrush- put to one side as Danish in - Leipzig’s German forward Timo Werner (L) celebrates scoring the third goal ing Sarabia to slide home his Sevilla’s French forward Wissam Ben Yedder (R) challenges Girona’s Brazilian ternational Poulsen struck with his teammate Leipzig’s Danish forward Yussuf Poulsen 14th goal of the season in all midfielder Douglas Luiz twice inside the opening 20 competitions. minutes. fore tapping in from close range but two fine individual strikes On Saturday, Atletico Ma- toine Griezmann’s 80th-min- Madrid sit just two points adrift The 24-year-old stretched after good work by Werner. by Werner late on took him to drid had also drawn level on ute strike grabbed a 3-2 victory after edging out Rayo Vallecano out a leg to volley home Kevin Karim Onisiwo’s header be- 10 league goals this season and points with Barcelona as An- at Real Valladolid, while Real 1-0. Kampl’s 14th-minute cross, be- fore half-time gave Mainz hope, sealed the win in style.