Forest holds Liverpool to 1-1 draw as Man City shows more fallibility in squandering two-goal lead

By Canadian Press on January 14, 2025.

Nottingham Forest demonstrated its unlikely Premier League title credentials by holding Liverpool to a 1-1 draw on Tuesday, backing up its win over the leaders earlier in the season.

It took a header by Diogo Jota from a corner in the 66th minute to earn Liverpool a point that maintained its six-point cushion over Forest, which moved into second place in its improbable bid to qualify for the Champions League — and maybe more.

Forest remains the only team to beat Liverpool in the league this season — at Anfield in September — and was on course to record an unlikely home-and-away double over Arne Slot’s team after top scorer Chris Wood scored in the eighth minute.

Liverpool piled on the pressure late on but again failed to defeat Forest, which started the season more likely to be in a relegation battle than competing for the title.

City’s fallibility returns

Manchester City showed more late-game fallibility in squandering a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Brentford.

City conceded in the 82nd minute and again two minutes into stoppage time after Phil Foden scored twice for the struggling champions, who are battling to simply qualify for the Champions League this season.

Prior to winning its last two league games against Leicester and West Ham, City had won just one in nine to drop out of the Champions League qualification positions. During that poor run, City conceded two late goals to lose to Manchester United while also throwing away a three-goal lead late in a 3-3 draw against Feyenoord in the Champions League.

Yoane Wissa and Christian Norgaard were the scorers for Brentford to leave City in sixth place.

Last-gasp equalizer for Chelsea

Chelsea salvaged a 2-2 draw at home to Bournemouth thanks to Reece James’ free kick in the fifth minute of stoppage time but saw its winless run in the league extend to five games.

Cole Palmer put Chelsea ahead with a cheeky finish in the 13th minute for his 14th goal of the season, only for Bournemouth to respond as Antoine Semenyo won a penalty — converted by Justin Kluivert — and smashed home a rising finish in the 68th.

Chelsea stayed in fourth place — at least until fifth-place Newcastle plays on Wednesday.

Potter’s first win

Graham Potter secured his first win as West Ham manager as his new team beat Fulham 3-2.

Carlos Soler and Tomas Soucek scored first-half goals before Lucas Paqueta grabbed the crucial third for West Ham, which brought in Potter last week as a replacement for the fired Julen Lopetegui.

Potter’s first match in charge was a defeat at Aston Villa in the FA Cup on Friday.

Alex Iwobi scored Fulham’s goals to make it 2-1 and then 3-2.

West Ham moved 10 points clear of the relegation zone with the victory.

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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Steve Douglas, The Associated Press