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LONDON. — Manchester United dealt a blow to Tottenham’s English Premier League football title aspirations with a dominant 2-0 win at Old Trafford, while Liverpool’s upturn continued with a 1-0 win over West Ham on Wednesday night.
Chelsea’s winning run came to an end in a 0-0 draw at Brentford, which allowed Newcastle to close within two points of the top four with a 1-0 win over Everton.
Tottenham Hotspur coach Antonio Conte said his side struggles to compete in games against top English Premier League clubs after they were well beaten by Manchester United on Wednesday.
Spurs slipped to a 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford, but the scoreline did not reflect the fact that they were comfortably second best in Manchester, facing 28 shots in the match.
For all their progress this season — Spurs are third in the standings despite the loss — Conte feels his team still let themselves down against tougher opponents.
“We have to be honest, United deserved to win,” Conte said. “They started the game very well. In our side, we did not start the game. It was really difficult, because we made a lot of simple mistakes.
“The table is good, but every time we play a high level game, we struggle. I want to be honest — against Chelsea we struggle, we lost against Arsenal and Manchester United we lost.
“In this type of game, I think that you need to arrive and not make big mistakes, with great concentration, great focus. You need to be ready to fight a war, or you die against your opponent. The level is very high, we are struggling.”
Conte, however, is not too worried, and feels his team need time to continue their improvement.
“In only 10 months we cannot pass from ninth place (when he took over) to become title contenders the year after,” he added.
“We do not forget last season. We need to be disappointed. We need to show much more. I think that we can do much better than this today.”
United are now just one point off the Champions League places and could leapfrog Chelsea when the sides meet at Stamford Bridge tomorrow after their most impressive display under Erik ten Hag.
The Red Devils had 28 shots on goal against a Tottenham side that been beaten only once in their opening 10 league games of the season.
Signs of progress for United since losing their opening two games of the campaign have been hampered by a lack of killer instinct up front.
But they finally got their rewards in front of a delighted full house when Fred’s deflected effort found the bottom corner two minutes into the second half.
Bruno Fernandes then doubled United’s lead with his first club goal since August.
Tottenham could have moved to within a point of leaders Arsenal with victory, but had no response to remain in third.
Darwin Nunez has endured a difficult start to life at Liverpool, but the Uruguayan was the match winner as Jurgen Klopp’s men moved up to seventh.
Nunez powered Kostas Tsimikas’ cross into the far corner for the game’s only goal on 22 minutes.
However, the Reds had Alisson Becker to thank for the three points as the Brazilian saved Jarrod Bowen’s penalty in first-half stoppage time.
Alisson was needed once more to deny Tomas Soucek from point-blank range late on as Liverpool held out.
Chelsea missed the chance to close within five points of the top as the in-form Blues were blunted by Brentford.
Graham Potter is still to experience defeat as Chelsea boss, but he has goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga to thank for maintaining that record.
The Spaniard is finally delivering on his tag as the world’s most expensive goalkeeper following a £72 million move from Athletic Bilbao in 2018 as he twice denied Ivan Toney a winner for Brentford.
Newcastle continued their impressive form as Miguel Almiron’s stunning strike was enough to see off Everton at St. James’ Park.
A third consecutive defeat leaves the Toffees just a point above the relegation zone.
Bournemouth’s six-game unbeaten run under caretaker boss Gary O’Neil came to an end as Che Adams’ seventh-minute strike earned a much-needed 1-0 win for under pressure Southampton manager Ralph Hassenhuttl.
The Saints’ first win in six lifts them up to 14th, but still only two points clear of the bottom three. — AFP.
Online Reporter