Chelsea in control as title rivals stumble
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CHELSEA could afford to miss a late penalty in a 1-1 draw at Liverpool on Tuesday, as Antonio Conte’s side extended its lead at the top of the English Premier League and its rivals sabotaged their own title bids.
Fourth-place Liverpool started well at Anfield, only for Chelsea to take the lead through center half David Luiz’s free kick in the first half.
Netherlands midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum equalized in the second half for Liverpool, which then had goalkeeper Simon Mignolet to thank for saving Chelsea striker Diego Costa’s spot-kick.
The draw set the stage perfectly for Arsenal to keep the pressure up in the title race with a routine home win against a Watford side well out of form.
The opposite happened, with the visitors scoring early goals and holding on for a 2-1 win that severely dents Arsenal’s hopes of catching the leaders. Arsenal is now nine points behind Chelsea and surely has no choice but to beat the leader at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Worse still for Arsenal, it dropped to third place on goal difference behind bitter north London rival Tottenham Hotspur, which drew 0-0 away to relegation struggler Sunderland.
At Anfield, having dropped goalkeeper Simon Mignolet earlier this season, Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp watched him save Diego Costa’s late penalty to earn his side a draw.
The result spared Klopp the ignominy of a fourth straight defeat for the first time since 1923, but that will feel anecdotal when Klopp looks at the current situation.
The bleak reality is that his side — having started the season so brightly when it was scoring goals galore — remains 10 points adrift and is out of both domestic cup competitions.
Against the run of play, Mignolet was caught unawares by an opportunistic free kick from Luiz. Midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum equalized for Liverpool in the 57th before Mignolet tipped Costa’s spot kick around the post in the 76th.
In London, there was no late escape for Arsene Wenger’s side this time — against Watford.
Arsenal has ridden its luck this season, scraping a 2-1 home win against Burnley in the previous league game with a penalty seven minutes into injury time. Then there was the last-gasp 3-3 draw away to Bournemouth after trailing 0-3, or the 86th minute winner against West Bromwich Albion.
Those were teams Arsenal was supposed to beat comfortably.
So was Watford, especially given its poor recent form and the fact Arsenal entered the match full of confidence after a 5-0 away win at Southampton in the FA Cup last weekend.
But it all went wrong.
Early strikes from center half Younes Kaboul and striker Troy Deeney gave Watford a deserved 2-0 halftime lead before winger Alex Iwobi pulled a goal back for Arsenal after the break but Watford held on for its first victory in eight EPL games.
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