Title race open for many teams: Wenger

Arsenal held as Liverpool close in on top spot in Premier League.


Afp February 13, 2014
The Londoners would have gone top with a win against the champions but few chances were created in a disappointing 0-0 draw at the Emirates. PHOTO: AFP

LONDON: Arsenal missed the chance to go top of the Premier League as Liverpool moved to within four points of the summit on Wednesday ahead of their FA Cup clash with the Gunners.

Arsene Wenger’s men were held to a goalless draw at home to champions Manchester United while Liverpool had to twice come from behind before Steven Gerrard’s stoppage-time penalty sealed a 3-2 win away at bottom-of-the table Fulham.

“Gerrard is peerless in situations like that,” said Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers.

“He showed brilliant composure. It was a great result. We’ve had to show character to come from behind twice.”

Rodgers, however, remained coy about Liverpool’s chances of winning a first English title since 1990 despite recently rubbishing the possibility saying it was too soon for his side.

“We’re going to keep pushing,” he said. “We’re chasing, other teams are still ahead of us. We need some of them to drop points.”

He added: “We know we still have Manchester City and Chelsea to play at home. We’ll take it game by game.”

Arsenal were left a point behind leaders Chelsea on a night when title rivals City saw their match at home to Sunderland postponed because of severe weather battering the north-west of England that also meant Everton’s game against Crystal Palace was called off as well.

“In the end either side could have won 1-0,” said Wenger after a match where both Gunners keeper Wojciech Szczesny and United counterpart David de Gea made excellent saves.

“The title race is absolutely open for many teams.”

I wanted all three points: Moyes

The draw did little for United’s fading hopes of claiming a Champions League place; with David Moyes’s side now 11 points adrift of the top four.

“I am pleased, but I wanted all three points,” said Moyes.

“We have a lot of catching up to do. We have to win games and keep plugging away.”

United have only 12 games in which to reverse the situation if they are to avoid missing out on a place in Europe’s premier club tournament for the first time since 1995, but Moyes refuses to give up the fight.

“All I can do – I keep saying it – but I’ll try and win the next game and see if we can pick it up,” he told journalists at the Emirates Stadium.

“If there’s one club in history who’ve been great at winning games in the second-half of the season and putting pressure on the teams above, it’s been United.

“We’ll continue to try and do that and see if we can make it work.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th, 2014.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ