Tottenham’s problems persist after they lost 3-2 to Everton, while Manchester United suffered a 3-1 defeat at home to Brighton as Old Trafford remembered the legendary Denis Law on Sunday.
With a 3-2 victory over Southampton, Nottingham Forest defeated Nuno Espirito Santo’s men to bring second-place Arsenal within six points of Liverpool. This is an unlikely title challenge.
United, in contrast, are 24 points clear of the leaders and are only concerned with surviving after Brighton took control of Old Trafford for the third straight season.
After a thrilling 2-2 draw at Liverpool and an FA Cup exit earlier this month, Ruben Amorim’s men appeared to have turned the tables.
But after Amad Diallo’s late hat-trick papered over the cracks in a 3-1 win over bottom-of-the-table Southampton in midweek, Brighton exposed the glaring holes in the foundations of Amorim’s United project.
Within five minutes, Yankuba Minteh opened the scoring with a square from Kaoru Mitoma.
Before the break, United scored a penalty from Bruno Fernandes.
After Andre Onana dropped a cross into Georginio Rutter’s path on the hour mark, Mitoma restored Brighton’s lead.
Brighton moves up to ninth place and within four points of the top four with Victory.
United is still 13th, but they have a 10-point advantage over the bottom three.
“We can’t be comfortable in thinking that this is ok, because it is not”, said Fernandes.
“I’m not here to lose games, but I’m here to stay where we are right now.”
Before kick-off, tributes were paid to one of the club’s greats in Law, who passed away on Friday aged 84.
The only Scot ever to win the Ballon d’Or, Law is the third top scorer in United’s history, with 237 goals in 404 appearances.
As the teams left, a piper performed the Scottish national anthem “Flower of Scotland” and read out a eulogy over the tannoy, featuring United legends Alex Ferguson, Brian Kidd, Paddy Crerand, and Alex Stepney.
Spurs have won six games without a win.
After Everton won their first game of David Moyes’ second spell in charge, Tottenham are now winless in six league games.
The Toffees struck three times before the break, despite not scoring in nine of their previous eleven league games.
The scoring was opened by Dominic Calvert Lewin’s first goal since September, which came after Iliman Ndiaye’s brilliant solo run and finish.
Archie Gray’s own goal compounded Tottenham’s misery.
Spurs’ deficit was reduced thanks to Dejan Kulusevski’s late goals, but they were unable to avoid their 12th defeat in 22 games.
“It is a challenging situation for sure, when you are losing players the amount we are at the moment”, said under-fire Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou, who was without 10 first-team regulars.
“I have to be good enough to do that,” I said, “and it’s up to me to get us out of this.”
Everton are four points clear of the bottom three and just four points clear of Tottenham, who is 15th.
In the first 45 minutes, Forest were prolific, extending their lead over them in the Champions League the following year.
Elliot Anderson, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Chris Wood netted before the break.
With the help of Jan Bednarek and Paul Onuachu in the second period, Southampton, 10 points adrift of safety, can still claim their title.
In spite of the results from Saturday, Manchester City is currently eighth, but if they win in Ipswich later, they could move up to fourth place with Newcastle.
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