LONDON: Chelsea could afford to miss a late penalty in a 1-1 draw at Liverpool on Tuesday, as Antonio Conte’s side extended their lead at the top of the Premier League after closest rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur sabotaged their own title bids.

Fourth-placed Liverpool started well at Anfield, only for Chelsea to take the lead through centre-half David Luiz’s superb free kick midway through the first half.

Netherlands midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum’s close-range header levelled the scores in the 57th minute for Liverpool, who then had Simon Mignolet to thank for saving Chelsea striker Diego Costa’s spot-kick — the goalkeeper making amends for being caught off guard on the first goal.

“It’s a pity Diego missed the penalty, but we must be happy with the result and the performance because it is not easy to play away at Liverpool,” Chelsea manager Antonio Conte said.

The draw set the stage perfectly for Arsenal to keep the pressure up in the title race with a routine home win against a Watford side well out of form.

The opposite happened, with the visitors scoring early goals and holding on for a 2-1 win that severely dents Arsenal’s hopes of catching the leaders.

Arsenal are nine points behind Chelsea, who have 56, along with Tottenham who moved above their north London rivals on goal difference after a lacklustre 0-0 draw at basement club Sunderland while Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool remain 10 points adrift.

Having dropped Mignolet earlier this season, Klopp watched him save Costa’s late penalty to spare Liverpool the ignominy of a fourth straight defeat for the first time since 1923.

But that will feel anecdotal when Klopp looks at the current situation.

The bleak reality is that his side, having started the season so brightly when they were scoring goals galore, remain 10 points adrift in the title race and are out of both domestic cup competitions.

“I’m not sure happy is the right word, but I’m proud because the boys did outstanding things against a really good side,” Klopp said with Liverpool’s battling display at least partially easing the pain of Saturday’s FA Cup embarrassment against second tier Wolves.

After Liverpool made a bright start. it looked like another night of woe when the crafty Luiz noticed Mignolet arranging his wall and seized his chance to plant a quick free kick into the corner left vacated by the distracted keeper.

Mignolet looked bewildered that the Brazil defender’s effort wasn’t ruled out, but referee Mark Clattenburg allowed Luiz to celebrate his first goal since rejoining Chelsea from Paris St Germain in August.

There was plenty of spirit from Liverpool, though, and Wijnaldum levelled in the 57th minute after James Milner did well to head Jordan Henderson’s cross back towards goal.

When Costa went down after a challenge by Joel Matip 14 minutes from time it looked as though Chelsea would avenge their defeat at Stamford Bridge earlier this season but Mignolet spared the hosts with a fine stop.

WATFORD STUN GUNNERS

Arsenal, who began the day second, must recover quickly from their shock loss to Watford as they travel to Chelsea on Saturday.

Watford scored twice inside the first 13 minutes at the Emirates Stadium through Younes Kaboul and Troy Deeney before winger Alex Iwobi pulled a goal back for Arsenal after the break.

Substitute Lucas Perez hit the crossbar late on for Arsenal as Watford held on for their first victory in eight Premier League games and celebrated their first top-flight victory over the Gunners since 1988.

“It was obvious we lost duels and were not sharp enough. It looked more mentally that we were not ready for the challenges,” said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who was serving a touchline ban and had to watch gloomily from the stands.

Tottenham leapfrogged Arsenal to move into second place but missed the opportunity to put some pressure on Chelsea.

On a frustrating night for Tottenham, who lost England left-back Danny Rose to a first half injury, forward Son Heung-min struck an effort just clear of the crossbar in the second half.

The result was somewhat better for Sunderland, who managed to move off the bottom. Hull City are now last on goal difference.

Champions Leicester City’s relegation worries are becoming acute after Claudio Ranieri’s side went down 1-0 at Burnley for whom Sam Vokes grabbed a controversial late winner.

Michael Keane nodded down for Vokes from a corner and the ball appeared to hit the striker’s hand before he lashed in from close range in the 87th minute at Turf Moor.

“It was handball for everybody but not the referee. He didn’t see it and we lost the match,” Ranieri fumed.

Leicester’s third consecutive league defeat left them two points off the relegation zone in 16th place with the battle for survival hotting up after wins for Swansea City and Crystal Palace.

Third-bottom Palace won in the league for the first time under new manager Sam Allardyce as Scott Dann and Christian Benteke scored the goals in a 2-0 victory at Bournemouth.

Fourth-bottom Swansea boosted their bid for survival with a 2-1 win over Southampton at the Liberty Stadium — Gylfi Sigurdsson’s 70th-minute effort earning them a second consecutive win.

Sliding Middlesbrough eeked out a point in a 1-1 draw at home to West Bromwich Albion but remain in trouble. Middlesbrough are in 15th place, while West Brom are eighth.

Published in Dawn February 2nd, 2017