Liverpool, Man City Slip as Arsenal Gains

The sixth defeat of the season left last season’s champions Liverpool 11th in the table and eight points behind leaders Arsenal, having played one game more.

Coach Arne Slot admitted it was a “very, very, very bad result” and said he could “never find enough excuses” for his team’s worrying results.

“This is far from good enough and I am responsible for that,” Murillo said after goals from Nicolo Savona and Morgan Gibbs-White at Anfield handed Liverpool their sixth defeat in their last seven games in England’s top flight.

To put that into context, the Merseyside club won a record-equalling 20th title last season, losing just four times all season.

Arsenal were the big winners of the day despite not playing, after seeing their two main rivals drop more points.

City suffered their fourth defeat at St James’ Park as Harvey Barnes scored twice for Newcastle.

Chelsea are in second place, 3 points behind Arsenal, after defeating Burnley 2-0. Arsenal will face Tottenham on Sunday.

Crystal Palace beat Wolverhampton 2-0 and Fulham beat Sunderland 1-0 at home.

While Brighton beat Brentford 2-1, Bournemouth came from 2-0 behind and drew 2-2 with West Ham.

Liverpool lost again Forest won for the second time in a row at Anfield and took Sean Dyche’s side out of the relegation zone. It was also the first back-to-back wins this term for Forest, who were named on their third coach following the sackings of Nuno Espirito Santo and Ange Postecoglou.

How can Liverpool cope with a similar losing streak after seeing their title defense unravel well before the season’s halfway mark?

They have only won once in the league since 20 September and the last defeat could have been even worse; Forest had a shot in the first half which was ruled out for handball by Igor Jesus.

It could have doubled the visitors’ lead when Murillo opened the scoring with a low effort from inside the penalty area in the 33rd minute. In the end, it didn’t matter much as Forest took the lead through Savona a minute after the second-half restart.

Gibbs-White put the game beyond doubt in the 78th as Liverpool tried to mount a comeback.

Even the return of goalkeeper Alisson from injury and the appearance of British record scorer Alexander Isak on the field for the first time in a month could not change Liverpool’s form.

Isak was substituted in the 68th minute, extending his goalless run to six games since scoring his only goal of the season against second division Southampton in September.

“Everyone is disappointed, as they should be, because losing at home to Nottingham Forest is very bad in my eyes,” Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk said. “That’s the least I can say about it.”

City make a mistake City have a chance to move within a point of Arsenal after a clear victory against Liverpool before the international break. However, the weaknesses of the Newcastle team, which suffered two consecutive defeats in the league, were revealed.

Barnes, along with Nick Woltemade, had wasted several chances before firing low from the edge of the penalty area in the 63rd minute.

Ruben Dias equalized for City five minutes later but Barnes scored the winner in the 70th minute.

City sit third, four points behind Arsenal with one game more to play.

“There’s still a long way to go,” City manager Pep Guardiola said.

Chelsea closed the gap with the goals scored by Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez at Turf Moor and Chelsea rose to second place.

Neto put Chelsea ahead in the 37th minute, scoring his second goal in as many matches and his fourth this season.

Fernandez secured the victory with a low shot from inside the penalty area in the 88th minute.

Burnley’s defeat resulted in their relegation to the relegation zone. West Ham joined Forest in the bottom three but the Londoners squandered two points at Bournemouth.

Leading 2-0 in the first half with goals from Callum Wilson, West Ham could not hold on to their fourth win of the season.

Marcus Tavernier and Enes Ünal made Bournemouth come back from the penalty spot.

High-flying Crystal Palace and Brighton won, ensuring they stay at the top of the table.

Palace moved up to fourth after adding to Wolves’ bottom-place woes in new manager Rob Edwards’ first game. Daniel Munoz and Yeremy Pino scored six minutes apart in the second half at Molineux to leave Wolves still winless after the 12th week of the season.

In-form Danny Welbeck scored his seventh goal in eight games as fifth-placed Brighton came back from a goal down to beat Brentford.

Raul Jimenez beat Sunderland in the 84th as Fulham won for only the second time in seven league games.