The only winner on Sunday was Manchester City. And Romelu Lukaku certainly lost out.
It was a vibrant and entertaining match that Lukaku missed, not by choice, as Chelsea rallied to salvage a 2-2 draw against Liverpool without the temporarily exiled striker.
That left City 10 points ahead of Chelsea at the top of the English Premier League, while Liverpool are another point behind.
It looks like the sky blue ribbons will remain in the trophy for another year thanks to the downfall of the title contenders.
That is even before Liverpool is hit hard by the absence of the players who will take part in the African Cup of Nations. Before leaving for what could be an absence of more than a month, Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah contributed to Liverpool’s goals.
Liverpool seemed to be going from strength to strength but were surprised twice late in the first half, with a volley from Mateo Kovacic and a goal from Christian Pulisic equalizing the score for Chelsea.
It was an absorbing and wild game that was only tempered after the break by the goal of Edouard Mendy of Chelsea, who denied Salah the goal, and by the reflexes of Caoimhin Kelleher, of Liverpool, who thwarted Pulisic’s search for him. so much of victory.
He couldn’t turn around because he could miss another wonderful moment. It was a match to keep fans on their toes, something they were able to do legally in parts of a Premier League stadium for the first time in 28 years as part of the standing tests.
However, there was neither room to stand nor a seat for Chelsea’s record signing Lukaku, who was ruled out by coach Thomas Tuchel for an outburst that called into question his limited role in the team.
In other Sunday games, Alexis Mac Allister scored a double to guide Brighton to a 3-2 win against Everton that increased the pressure on manager Rafael BenÃtez. Mads Roerslev gave Brentford a 2-1 win over Aston Villa, while Stuart Dallas and Dan James scored in the second half for Leeds to beat Burnley 3-1.
.