LONDON - Liverpool maintained their searing pace at the top of the Premier League as they beat Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on Sunday to make it six wins from six matches.
A day after second-placed Manchester City's 8-0 demolition of Watford, Liverpool were made to work much harder but hung on after first-half goals by Trent Alexander-Arnold and Roberto Firmino had put them in control.
N'Golo Kante reduced the arrears after the break but Chelsea remain without a victory at home under manager Frank Lampard.
Arsenal moved into fourth spot as they twice came from a goal down with 10 men to beat Aston Villa 3-2 at the Emirates thanks to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's late free kick.
Manchester United suffered a dismal 2-0 defeat at high-flying West Ham United who finished the weekend fifth.
Wolverhampton Wanderers are still winless in six Premier League games but at least avoided defeat at Crystal Palace as Diogo Jota struck a stoppage-time equalizer in a 1-1 draw.
Liverpool, whose serene start to the season was jolted by a midweek defeat to Napoli in the Champions League, were not at their best, especially in the second half, but dug in to extend their club-record run of Premier League wins to 15.
They lead City by five points with Leicester City, who beat Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, in third on 11 points. Arsenal and West ham also have 11 points.
Chelsea are one of six clubs on eight points along with Manchester United and Tottenham.
Liverpool took the lead in the 14th minute when Alexander-Arnold rifled the ball into the top corner after Mohamed Salah back heeled a free kick into his path on the edge of the box.
Chelsea thought they had leveled but were denied an equalizer by VAR after 26 minutes when Cesar Azpilicueta bundled the ball in only for replays to show that Mason Mount had strayed a fraction offside in the build-up.
To add insult to injury to the hosts Firmino then headed in Andy Robertson's cross from the left.
Chelsea showed great spirit following the break and after Kante's superb curled effort, they had chances to level through Mount and substitute Michy Batshuayi.
"We scored two wonderful goals and we could have scored directly after halftime two more," manager Juergen Klopp said. "We deserved the three points, it is a difficult to win here."
Lampard saw things slightly differently.
"Performance wise we were the better team. We had more energy in our game, character and spirit," he said.
Lampard said the VAR decision, one of several to overturn goals over the weekend, had been a turning point.
"It changes the atmosphere in the crowd, on the pitch. We are slightly deflated and they get a boost. We deserved to be level at that point," Lampard said.
Arsenal had Ainsley Maitland-Niles sent off for a second yellow card 20 minutes John McGinn put Villa in front.
Nicolas Pepe equalized from penalty spot on the hour after midfielder Matteo Guendouzi was fouled in the area by Björn Engels but Villa restored their lead immediately through Wesley.
Calum Chambers replied again for the hosts in the 81st minute before Aubameyang then pounced to complete a remarkable win for Unai Emery's side.
Ukrainian forward Andriy Yarmolenko put West Ham ahead against United at the end of a drab first half at the London Stadium and Aaron Cresswell sealed victory with an outstanding free kick in the 84th minute.
To complete a bad day for United, who are already 10 points behind arch-rivals Liverpool, they lost striker Marcus Rashford to a groin injury that manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer fears could sideline him for "a while".
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
BRAZIL -- Gabriel Jesus and Roberto Firmino scored the goals as Brazil beat arch-rivals Argentina 2-0 on Tuesday to qualify for the Copa America final.
Played in a white-hot atmosphere and with tempers threatening to boil over, Argentina came close to scoring themselves but both Sergio Aguero and Lionel Messi hit the woodwork.
Hosts Brazil will play the winners of Wednesday second semi-final between champions Chile and Peru in Sunday's final.
It was the first time these age-old rivals had met in a major competition since Brazil beat Argentina 3-0 in the 2007 Copa final.
English-based Jesus and Firmino were the stars, each creating the other's goal, although captain Dani Alves had a major say in the opener.
Defeat meant Barcelona great Messi's hopes of landing a major international honour with Argentina became even more remote.
He will get another opportunity next year, though, with the fourth Copa America in the last five years, due to be played in Argentina and Colombia.
- Tackles flying -
In what was always expected to be a feisty affair there were some wild early tackles flying in, and Argentina's Nicolas Tagliafico was first to be booked for a lunge at Jesus.
The pitch looked like it had been trampled by a herd of wildebeest before kick-off and both sides struggled to play flowing football.
Brazil's Casemiro was even jeered after sending a long crossfield ball straight out of play.
The first chance came when Argentina's Leandro Paredes let fly from 30 yards but the ball whistled just over the top of goalkeeper Alisson's goal.
Brazil took the lead on 19 minutes after a piece of individual brilliance from Alves.
He beat three players on a mazy run before sending Firmino clear down the right with a no-look pass, the Liverpool forward crossing for the unmarked Jesus to tap home.
Two-footed lunges were flying in as the match threatened to descend from niggly to dirty.
Argentina almost levelled on the half hour when Aguero headed Messi's free-kick onto the bar, the ball bouncing down just in front of the line before Brazil scrambled it clear.
Messi then burst into life, driving at heart of the Brazil defense and playing in Aguero, who took advantage of a Thiago Silva slip to make space for himself but Marquinhos was quickly across to block the Manchester City striker's shot.
Moments later, Messi beat two men on the right, won back the ball with a sliding tackle after overrunning it, but then wastefully shot high and wide.
At the other end, Arthur shot powerfully, but straight at goalkeeper Franco Armani.
- Pirouetting Jesus -
Argentina pushed Brazil back at the start of the second half and Aguero picked out Lautaro Martinez in the box but he didn't catch his left-foot volley cleanly and Alisson gathered comfortably.
Another promising attacking move ended with Rodrigo de Paul blazing over from 20 yards.
But Jesus produced a beautiful piece of skill, including a pirouetting drag-back, before teeing up Philippe Coutinho who should have done better than shooting over.
Moments later, though, a blocked shot from Martinez looped over to Messi who lashed a shot from an angle against the post, with Alisson beaten.
Alisson was alert to clutch a Messi free-kick on 66 minutes that looked destined for the top corner.
By then, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni had already gone for broke, bringing off midfielder Marcos Acuna and sending on speedy winger Angel Di Maria, with Messi dropping into a deeper role.
Just as Argentina looked capable of finding a way back into the match, Brazil stung them on the counter-attack with Manchester City's Jesus getting away from two defenders and teeing up the unmarked Liverpool striker Firmino for a tap in on 71 minutes.
Scaloni threw on another forward in Paulo Dybala but there was no way back for Argentina.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
MANCHESTER - Liverpool moved into the semi-finals of the Champions League after a 2-1 win against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday earned them a 5-1 aggregate victory.
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino struck in the second half as they fought back from going a goal down on the night to reach the competition's last four for the first time in 10 years.
With a three-goal deficit to make up from the first leg, City needed an early goal to give them hope and they got exactly that, taking the lead in the second minute.
Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk gave the ball away and Fernandinho played a superb pass to Raheem Sterling on the right who slipped the ball to Gabriel Jesus to slot home.
Sensing the comeback might be within reach, City attacked relentlessly but with Liverpool defending well in numbers chances were rare until Bernardo Silva struck the post in the 40th minute.
Two minutes later, Leroy Sane thought he had added a second, poking the ball over the line but was ruled offside. City objected strongly and as the teams came off for halftime their manager Pep Guardiola’s protests resulted in him being sent to the stands for the second half.
All City's breathless efforts though were undone in the 56th minute when Liverpool got the crucial away goal -- Sadio Mane burst into the box, City keeper Ederson dived at his feet but the ball spilled out to Salah who took his time before coolly converting.
Any lingering questions over who would advance to the last four were ended 13 minutes from the end when Firmino robbed a sloppy Nicolas Otamendi and slotted past Ederson.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
