Fernandes red card add to Man United woes

Associated Press

Manchester: Erling Haaland's failure from the penalty spot and Bruno Fernandes' latest red card compounded the woes of Manchester City and Manchester United on another tough day for the two Premier League giants. There were no such problems Thursday for Liverpool, which rallied to a 3-1 win over Leicester in foggy conditions at Anfield and moved seven points clear atop the standings approaching the halfway point of the campaign.

City dropped more points in its improbably poor run of form by drawing 1-1 at home to Everton, with Haaland having a spot kick saved by England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in the 53rd minute. The four-time defending champions have only won one of their last 13 games in all competitions and manager Pep Guardiola acknowledged he needs to spend in the January transfer window to reverse City's slide.

“The transfer window in the winter is not easy, but even the players know that we have to add some new players,” said Guardiola, who has had to cope without a host of key players, including Ballon d'Or winner Rodri, through injury this season. While City is languishing in seventh place, United is even further adrift in 14th place after a 2-0 loss at lowly Wolverhampton. United played almost the entire second half with 10 men after Fernandes collected his second yellow card in the 47th minute.

It was the United captain's third sending-off of the season, though one was rescinded. After seeing second-place Chelsea also drop points after conceding in the fifth minute of stoppage time to lose 2-1 at home to Fulham, Liverpool recovered from conceding in the sixth minute against Leicester to extend its lead. Cody Gakpo, Curtis Jones and Mohamed Salah scored Liverpool's goals. Nottingham Forest won 1-0 against Tottenham and is a big surprise in third place.

GOAL FROM A CORNER: Wolves' first goal against United came direct from a corner, with Brazil striker Matheus Cunha seeing his kick curl over the head of goalkeeper Andre Onana and into the far corner in the 58th minute.

SALAH SCORES AGAIN: Salah moved three goals clear of second-place Haaland in the race for the Golden Boot, his 16th of the campaign completing Liverpool's recovery after Gakpo curled in the equalizer in first-half stoppage time and Jones made it 2-1 in the 49th.

Salah has scored at least one goal in nine of his last 10 league matches, and has 19 goals in all competitions this season. Liverpool is unbeaten in its last 20 matches in all competitions, the only defeat all season under new manager Arne Slot coming at home to Forest in the league in September.