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Liverpool win at Fulham to reignite Premier League title challenge

The destiny of the title remains in Manchester City's hands with the defending champions one point behind the top two with a game in hand

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Liverpool's Diogo Jota celebrates scoring their third goal with teammates. — Reuters

By AFP

Published: Sun 21 Apr 2024, 10:02 PM

Liverpool got their Premier League title challenge back on track with a 3-1 win at Fulham on Sunday to move level on points with leaders Arsenal.

The destiny of the title remains in Manchester City's hands with the defending champions one point behind the top two with a game in hand.

However, Liverpool and Arsenal have put the pressure on Pep Guardiola's men by bouncing back from shock defeats last weekend.

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Jurgen Klopp said ahead of the game at Craven Cottage that the return of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota from injury was what gave his side "a chance" at clawing their way back into the title race.

Both were on target, either side of Ryan Gravenberch's first Premier League goal.

Klopp took the brave decision to rest a series of first-team regulars among five changes to the side that won 1-0, but failed to overturn a 3-0 first leg deficit against Atalanta in the Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday.

Mohamed Salah, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones and Ibrahima Konate dropped the bench.

Alexander-Arnold was one of the few shining lights in Bergamo and was restored for his first Premier League start in over two months.

The England international showed the quality the Reds have been missing when he curled in a stunning free-kick to open the scoring on 32 minutes.

Liverpool failed to hold onto the lead until half-time as the defensive lapses that have cost them in recent weeks reappeared.

Timothy Castagne swept home a loose ball into the far corner after Rodrigo Muniz's header was blocked.

Klopp had his stellar cast of substitutes warming up after a sluggish start to the second period.

But one wayward pass from Alex Iwobi cost Fulham.

Harvey Elliott intercepted on his return to Craven Cottage and teed up Gravenberch to curl in from the edge of the area.

Jota then made the points safe with his 100th goal in English football when his low effort had too much power for Bernd Leno 18 minutes from time.

Two more away trips at local rivals Everton and West Ham await Liverpool in the next six days.

But with just five more games of the Klopp era to come, they remain at least in the hunt to give the German a glorious goodbye to his transformative time at Anfield.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa stormed back from a goal down to beat Bournemouth 3-1 on Sunday, with strikes from Morgan Rogers, Moussa Diaby and Leon Bailey helping the Birmingham side to strengthen their grip on fourth place in the Premier League.

Everton secured three crucial points when they beat relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest 2-0 at Goodison Park on Sunday to improve their own Premier League survival hopes and move five points clear of the drop zone.

In another match on Sunday, Crystal Palace's Jean-Philippe Mateta netted a brace as they romped to a 5-2 Premier League rout of West Ham United with four goals inside 31 minutes including an exquisite bicycle kick by Eberechi Eze.

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AFP

Published: Sun 21 Apr 2024, 10:02 PM

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