Man City drops more points to dent Premier League title challenge, Man United draws with Burnley
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City’s Premier League title hopes took another blow after a 1-1 draw with Brighton on Wednesday.
Not even Erling Haaland’s 150th goal for the club was enough to stop City from dropping points at home for the second time in as many games and recording a third-straight draw, with Kaoru Mitoma equalizing for Brighton in the second half.
Aston Villa also missed out on the chance to move within three points of first-place Arsenal after a goalless draw at Crystal Palace, and new Chelsea coach Liam Rosenior watched on from the stands as his new team was beaten 2-1 by Fulham.
Manchester United’s first game since firing Ruben Amorim on Monday ended in a 2-2 draw at relegation-fighting Burnley and Newcastle scored in the 12th minute of added time to beat Leeds 4-3.
Antoine Semenyo also struck a late winner in Bournemouth’s 3-2 victory over Tottenham in what could be his last game before a widely anticipated move to City.
City held again
For the second time is as many games City blew a lead at home to ease the pressure on Arsenal at the top of the standings.
After the 1-1 draw against Chelsea on Sunday Pep Guardiola’s team was held again, this time by Brighton.
Haaland’s 41st-minute penalty put City ahead at halftime. But after Mitoma’s equalizer on the hour, Haaland was guilty of wasting a golden chance to score the winner when he shot straight at Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen late on.
A run of three draws also included a 0-0 with Sunderland on New Year’s Day.
Second-placed City is five points behind Arsenal, having played a game more. The gap to the top could be extended to eight points if Arsenal beats Liverpool on Thursday.
Villa is third and level on points with City after a 0-0 draw at Palace — the second time in three games that Unai Emery’s team has dropped points.
Sesko double not enough for United
Darren Fletcher couldn’t lead United to victory in his first game as interim coach, with Jaidon Anthony scoring a long-range equalizer for second-from-bottom Burnley.
Two goals from Benjamin Sesko saw United bounce back from Ayden Heaven’s early own goal. But Burnley salvaged a draw with the stunning strike from Anthony.
United has won one of its last six games and only three from 12.
It is not known if Fletcher will remain in charge beyond the game, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Michael Carrick among the candidates to become interim coach until the end of the season.
Chelsea loses
Rosenior has a job on his hands at Chelsea.
The Club World Cup winner is eighth in the standings after extending its winless run to five games.
Harry Wilson’s 82-minute goal secured victory for Fulham against a Chelsea team that had Marc Cucurella sent off early in the match and was led by interim Calum McFarlane, despite the appointment of Rosenior on Tuesday.
Rosenior’s first game will be the FA Cup tie against Charlton Athletic on Saturday.
Late, late drama
In what might go down as one of the best Premier League games of the season, Harvey Barnes scored in the 102nd minute as Newcastle beat Leeds 4-3.
Leeds led three time at St James’ Park and was 3-2 ahead as the clock ticked past 90 minutes.
But there was still plenty of drama to come.
Bruno Guimaraes made it 3-3 from the penalty spot in the 91st and Barnes spun to squeeze home his second of the match and the winner.
Thiago record
Brentford is up to fifth after a 3-0 win over Sunderland, with Igor Thiago continuing his outstanding scoring run.
The Brazilian struck two more for Keith Andrews’ team to take his personal tally to 17 goals for the season. With 16 in the Premier League, only Haaland on 20 has more.
His double also followed the hat trick he scored against Everton on Sunday.
According to stats firm Opta, Thiago has now has the record for the most Premier League goals by a Brazilian in a single season.
Nine-man Everton drew 1-1 with last-place Wolverhampton Wanderers.
After 12 straight losses, Wolves are now three games unbeaten, but still 14 points adrift of safety.
Semenyo’s parting gift?
He is widely expected to complete a move to City and if this was his last game for Bournemouth, Semenyo went out with a bang.
With a goal in the fifth minute of added time, the forward sealed a dramatic late victory over Spurs and ended Bournemouth’s 11-game winless run.
___
James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer