NEWCASTLE, England :Liverpool moved to within two wins of the Premier League title with a 2-1 victory over West Ham United on Sunday, while Manchester United’s miserable season continued as they were beaten 4-1 at Newcastle United.
Chelsea were held to a 2-2 draw at home against relegation-bound Ipswich Town, while an error-strewn performance by Tottenham Hotspur led to a 4-2 away defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah broke the record for most goal involvements in a season, to celebrate signing his new contract, and Virgil van Dijk scored a late winner as Arne Slot’s team moved 13 points clear at the top of the standings.
Salah created the opener for Luis Diaz in the first half and after West Ham had scored an equaliser in the 86th minute, skipper Van Dijk settled the tight contest three minutes later to leave West Ham 17th on 35 points.
Van Dijk scored his 24th Premier League goal; the most of any centre back since his debut in the competition in September 2015.
“It felt beautiful for multiple reasons,” Van Dijk told the BBC. “It was the winner, quite late in the game but also a set-piece and we’ve been struggling a little bit with scoring from set-pieces which is something I feel responsibility for.
“We got it done, we got the three points and now we move on, take what we did well – especially in the first half and focus on Leicester (City) next.”
There was less positivity among Manchester United supporters as they trudged home from St James’ Park.
The visitors slipped to their 14th league defeat of the season – their joint-most losses in a single campaign since 1989-90 – with Newcastle’s rampant 4-1 success taking them above champions Manchester City and up to fourth in the standings on 56 points.
With coach Eddie Howe missing the contest as he remains in hospital due to illness, in-form Newcastle did not lose any of their recent momentum, racing into a 24th-minute lead through a fine Sandro Tonali volley.
The visitors responded well, however, scoring a superb goal of their own on the break, finished off by Argentine forward Alejandro Garnacho in the 37th minute, but Harvey Barnes restored Newcastle’s lead early in the second half.
Barnes added a third in the 64th minute, before an error from league debutant Altay Bayindir in the away goal, starting in place of first-choice stopper Andre Onana, gifted Bruno Guimaraes a fourth to cap a fifth successive win in all competitions for Newcastle.
“When we suffer the second goal in the beginning of the second half we went down and we need to be better in these moments,” coach Ruben Amorim told reporters.
“They are already a really, really good team but the mistakes we made during the game helped the team.
“We need to improve in a lot of things and our position is a reflection of our performances this season.”
MORE SPURS WOE
Tottenham’s fourth loss in six league games deepened coach Ange Postecoglou’s crisis while easing the hosts’ relegation worries.
Wolves made the most of West Ham’s loss away to Liverpool to go 16th in the standings on 35 points, ahead of the Hammers on goal difference and 14 points clear of 18th-placed Ipswich with six games to play.
Spurs were skittish and individual mistakes were at the root of all four goals as they slumped to a defeat that leaves them two points ahead of their hosts in 15th.
Chelsea were held by Ipswich, leaving the Blues looking over their shoulders in the race for a lucrative spot in next season’s Champions League.
The visitors stunned Enzo Maresca’s men when they stormed into a 2-0 lead with just over half an hour on the clock, despite being pinned in their half for the early stages.
An own goal by Axel Tuanzebe immediately after halftime gave Chelsea hope and substitute Jadon Sancho curled a shot into the top corner in the 79th minute to set up a frantic finale when both sides came close to snatching a winner.
