Liverpool stays ahead of Man City by beating Chelsea 2-1 in Premier League

Liverpool beats Chelsea to stay top of Premier League, challenging Manchester City for the title.

Liverpool is looking more and more like Manchester City’s main title rival after beating resurgent Chelsea 2-1 on Sunday to stay top of the Premier League table.

After City needed an injury-time header from John Stones to beat last-place Wolves 2-1 in the early kickoff, Liverpool answered with a composed performance at Anfield to hand Chelsea its first league loss since the opening round.

Having seen third-place Arsenal lose at Bournemouth on Saturday to raise questions about the Gunners’ title hopes, Liverpool and City took full advantage to build a small gap atop the standings. Arne Slot’s team leads on 21 points from eight games, one ahead of City and four above Arsenal.

Curtis Jones orchestrated the win for Liverpool, earning a penalty for Mohamed Salah’s first-half opener and then scoring himself to restore the host’s lead in the 51st minute, shortly after Nicolas Jackson had equalized for Chelsea.

Jones also thought he had earned a second penalty in first-half injury time, but it was overturned after a VAR review judged that Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez got the ball before bundling over the Liverpool player.

But he capped a stellar performance by beating the offside trap to get on the end of a ball into the box from Salah and slot in the winner.

“As soon as Mo had the ball I made the run, but it bounced so I had to have a touch, and then thankfully it went in,” Jones said.