After Florian Wirtz’s next goal, defending champions FC Liverpool lost a victory in a turbulent stoppage time. In the 2-2 (0-1) draw at FC Fulham, Wirtz scored in the 57th minute to make it 1-1 for the fourth-placed team in the Premier League and thus equalized the previous deficit caused by ex-Liverpool professional Harry Wilson (17th). Cody Gakpo (90+4) even gave Liverpool the lead in stoppage time, but a brilliant long-range shot from Harrison Reed (90+7) gave Fulham a fair equalizer.
Similarly late, Manchester City, which had dominated for a long time, lost two points in the championship race with Arsenal FC. In the 1-1 (1-0) draw against Chelsea, Enzo Fernández only equalized for the guests from London in the fourth minute of added time. Shortly before the break, Tijjani Reijnders (42nd) put ManCity in the lead. It was another setback for team manager Pep Guardiola’s team: they had already made a 0-0 draw at AFC Sunderland at the start of the year.
Chelsea parted ways with coach Enzo Maresca on New Year’s Day. According to media reports, the Italian’s alleged conversations with Manchester were among the reasons for the separation. There had previously been speculation that Maresca could inherit Guardiola in the summer. On Sunday, Calum McFarlane sat on the bench as interim coach.
Thiaw scores in Newcastle’s win
Malick Thiaw was also able to celebrate his own goal in Newcastle United’s 2-0 (0-0) win against Crystal Palace. The German defender poked the ball into the net out of a commotion in the 78th minute for the final score. Nick Woltemade had only recently come on as a substitute against former Bundesliga coach Oliver Glasner’s team. Thanks to the success, Newcastle moved into the middle of the table.
Man City are now six points behind Arsenal in the table, level on points with Aston Villa. Liverpool are fourth ahead of Chelsea FC and are soon looking forward to their next top game: on Thursday the Reds have to play against leaders Arsenal FC.
