MANCHESTER: Liverpool moved back to the top of the Premier League with a 2-0 victory at struggling Burnley on Tuesday as Manchester United gave their fans some Boxing Day cheer by rallying to beat Aston Villa 3-2.
Liverpool have now won all six of their Premier League games on Boxing Day under Juergen Klopp and while three points always looked likely against Burnley, it was not until substitute Diogo Jota’s 90th-minute goal that the points were sealed.
Darwin Nunez’s precision finish after six minutes gave Liverpool a flying start — his first Premier League goal for almost two months. Liverpool had goals by Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott ruled out after VAR checks and Mohamed Salah rattled the crossbar as the visitors dominated.
But 19th-placed Burnley rallied in the second half and there was a sense of relief for Klopp when a sweeping move ended with Jota slotting in from a tight angle late on.
Liverpool overtook Arsenal to move into first place with 42 points from 19 games. Arsenal are on 40 ahead of their London derby with West Ham United on Thursday.
“Whatever the outside world thinks, it is really intense — and coming here and playing the game we played is absolutely exceptional,” Klopp told reporters.
“It’s exceptional as well that we didn’t score more goals… actually, we did but for different reasons they took them away.”
On hitting the top, Klopp said: “42 points, that’s really pleasing, to be honest. That’s really cool because the first part of the season (is) done and it was absolutely alright what we did. Not perfect but it was alright.”
At Old Trafford, United were in danger of another damaging defeat when goals from John McGinn and Leander Dendoncker put Villa in control by half-time at Old Trafford.
Erik ten Hag’s team were booed off at the interval but they staged a much-needed revival, sparked by Alejandro Garnacho scoring their first goal in seven hours and twenty minutes.
Garnacho struck again to equalise before Hojlund finally scored his first Premier League goal, in his 15th appearance, with eight minutes left.
Hojlund’s cathartic strike ended United’s four-match winless run in all competitions and lifted them to sixth in the Premier League.
“At half-time I said to the team, ‘keep believing’. The atmosphere changed a lot from the first half to the second. If we play our best we can beat anyone,” Ten Hag said.
United’s victory came in front of INEOS director of sport Dave Brailsford, who was in the directors box in the first sign of British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s involvement after buying a 25 per cent stake on Christmas Eve.
Two games without a win have dented Villa’s unexpected title challenge.
Unai Emery’s men remain third, three points behind Liverpool after their first defeat in 11 matches in all competitions.
