Jarrod Bowen’s brace before halftime against champions and league leaders Manchester City moved the home support inside the London Stadium into delirious celebrations – and the Liverpool faithful must have joined in the festivities, seeing their rivals’ lead at the top of the table potentially cut down to just three points with an extra game in the bag.
The Englishman scored first in the 24th minute, beating the City offside trap, latching onto a Pablo Fornals long pass, rounding Ederson, and tapping the ball into an empty net. His second, on the stroke of halftime, was similar; he, again, timed his run to perfection beyond the opposition defence, collected a pass in his stride, and shot across the goalkeeper to give his side a 2-0 lead going into the break.
City hit back immediately after the restart through Jack Grealish, who volleyed the ball past Lukasz Fabianski from the edge of the box. And, ten minutes past the hour, the scores were level again when Vladimir Coufal inadvertently turned the ball past his goalkeeper from a Riyad Mahrez cross.
To make matters worse, Craig Dawson then gave away a penalty for a foul on Gabriel Jesus, but Mahrez’s kick was saved by Fabianski, and City were left to rue dropped points.
Elsewhere, a controversial penalty decision against Ashley Barnes – adjudged to have handled the ball inside the box – presented Harry Kane with the opportunity to put Tottenham ahead in the eighth minute of first-half stoppage time – which he did with aplomb. Barnes hit the post on the other side of the break in an attempt to make amends, but that was as close as Burnley would get all night to scoring – the Clarets, back in the relegation zone as a result.
Meanwhile, Leeds United took a step in the right direction, thanks to Pascal Struijk’s 92nd-minute equalizer against Brighton and Hove Albion. On the other hand, Everton were put at risk of relegation again after they spurned the lead twice against Brentford and saw two of their men sent off for straight red cards. As it stands, Everton are 16th, with Leeds and Burnley not too far behind.
