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Liverpool, with 10 men, draw level with Fulham in the Premier League but Arsenal fail to take advantage

Liverpool, with 10 men, draw level with Fulham in the Premier League but Arsenal fail to take advantage

Premier League leaders Liverpool twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with 10-man Fulham but dropped points for the second game in a row to give hope to their title rivals on Saturday.

Arsenal failed to capitalize.

A 0-0 draw at home to third-placed Everton left third-placed Arsenal six points behind Liverpool and will go down as a huge missed opportunity.

Undermined by Andy Robertson’s 17th-minute red card, Liverpool did well to earn a point at Anfield – but could have claimed an unlikely win after sustained late pressure following Diogo Jota’s 86th-minute equaliser.

“I don’t think I could have asked for more from my players,” Liverpool manager Arne Slot said.

Fulham took the lead for the first time after Andreas Pereira’s 11th-minute volley was deflected into the net by Robertson, who was sent off six minutes later for bringing down Harry Wilson as the last man to deny a goal-scoring opportunity.

Cody Gakpo equalized just after the break with a cross from Mohamed Salah, who registered his 100th assist for Liverpool in all competitions.

Substitute Rodrigo Muniz’s flick put Fulham back in front in the 76th, only for Jota to run onto Darwin Nunez’s pass, turn his marker and head home a finish from the edge of the area.

Liverpool drew at Newcastle 3-3 in their last league game.

Arsenal have also drawn two games in a row following a 1-1 draw at Fulham last weekend and have not scored from open play in their last three league games.

Second-placed Chelsea host Brentford on Sunday and can move two points behind Liverpool with a win.

O’Neil on a threshold

Wolverhampton manager Gary O’Neil will do well to survive this latest damaging defeat.

Ipswich beat Wolves 2-1 thanks to Jack Taylor’s fourth-minute stoppage-time winner in a game between sides in the relegation zone, although only one of the managers went into it under any real pressure.

O’Neil has guided Wolves to just two league wins this season and three since March. The slide under O’Neil began at the end of last season when Wolves won just one of their last 10 league games after being knocked out of the FA Cup in the quarter-finals by second-placed Coventry.

After losing 2-1 at West Ham on Monday, O’Neil expressed his disappointment at losing touch with Wolves fans and also directed some criticism at the club’s owners for sanctioning the sale of many of their players its top for the last two years. .

There were boos at half-time and full-time at Molineux as Wolves remained penultimate and dropped three points behind bottom-placed Ipswich.

There were some chaos after the match when Wolves players and staff argued with each other and the Ipswich players on the pitch. In the midst of it all, Wolves defender Rayan Ait-Nouri received a second yellow card.

Ruud waking up

Ruud van Nistelrooy went down in his first Leicester defeat – and it was a big one.

Leicester were hammered 4-0 at Newcastle, for whom Jacob Murphy scored twice and Alexander Isak nodded in his seventh goal of the campaign. Bruno Guimaraes scored the other goal.

Van Nistelrooy, the former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker, was brought in to replace the sacked Steve Cooper and has picked up a win and a draw – both at home – in his first two games in charge.

Great save

Miracle save by Emi Martinez for Aston Villa proved to be in vain.

In the 60th minute, the Argentina international was standing slightly off his line when a header from Nottingham Forest’s Nicolas Dominguez went wide. Martinez reached his left hand behind him and somehow managed to throw the ball to the ground and clear it off the line in the same motion.

Villa went ahead three minutes later through Jhon Duran, only for goals from Nikola Milenković in the 87th minute and Anthony Elanga in the third minute after half-time to win 2–1 for Forest.

Forest have moved up to fourth, above Manchester City, who host Manchester United in Sunday’s derby.

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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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AP Football: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

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