Title race wide open after ‘harsh’ 95th min drama; Reds sink rival in fresh statement: PL Wrap

‘HARSH’ STONES WINNER DRAWS ‘SUBCONSCIOUS’ BIAS QUESTIONS

“Harsh.”

That’s how Wolves coach Gary O’Neil described the decision to award John Stones’ 95th minute winner against his side.

The Manchester City defender’s header was initially ruled out after the fourth official deemed Bernardo Silva to be in an offside position, disallowing the goal.

However, a VAR review found Silva wasn’t in Wolves keeper Jose Sa’s line of vision and had no impact on him, despite footage showing the Portuguese midfielder backing into Sa as Phil Foden’s corner made its way toward the box.

At the last moment, Silva moved away from Sa, creating enough separation for VAR to judge he’d not fouled his countryman in the build-up to the winner.

While Silva was technically in an offside position, according to the FA’s rules website players cannot be offside from a corner, much in the same way they cannot be offside from a throw-in.

As outlined in The Athletic, this means that ‘as long as the referee decides (Silva’s) not in Sa’s line of sight nor fouls the keeper at any point, the goal should be given according to the laws.’

O’Neill drew comparisons between Stones’ winner and a goal disallowed against former Wolves defender Max Kilman last year, where Wolves player Tawanda Chirewa was deemed to be in an offside position and blocking West Ham keeper Lukasz Fabianski’s line of vision.

Wolves’ manager made his feelings known about the decision in his post-game press conference, stating:

“Is there something in the subconscious around decision making, or without even knowing it, are you more likely to give it to Manchester City than Wolves?”

“My senses are heightened when we’re facing Man City and it’s Pep and Haaland. Are the officials the same when it’s Haaland and Manchester City?” he added.

“Is there something in there that they, not on purpose, influences decision making?”

O’Neill’s post-game protest matters ultimately can’t change the result – a much-needed victory for Manchester City in the context of the Premier League weekend.

Fellow title challenges Arsenal slipped at Bournemouth, while Liverpool beat Chelsea, meaning anything other than a City win would’ve opened the title race up completely.

The result also marks the still-winless Wolves’ seventh loss of the season, leaving them anchored to the bottom of the Premier League table with just a single point.

On another day the hosts may have left this game with a point, or perhaps all three, after they opened the scoring in the seventh minute through Jorgen Strand Larsen.

The Norwegian striker’s goal marked the fourth time in their last seven league games that City have conceded first, with Rodri’s lack of controlling presence in central midfield seen as a major contributing factor to this.

Josko Gvardiol’s equaliser came after the half hour mark, when the Croatian central defender curled his shot beyond Sa from the edge of the area.

Until Stones’ winner, Wolves largely kept City at bay. Guardiola’s side failed to create a big chance throughout the game, despite taking 22 shots.

Post-game, Guardiola praised his side for being “patient and making runs and crosses,” in their bid to break Wolves down.

“We have a lot of chances, but we don’t have the tallest team to attack crosses.

“That’s why I have the opinion that it’s an excellent performance.”

STELLAR SALAH KEEPS SLOT’S DREAM START ROLLING

Arne Slot said Liverpool passed the hardest test of his time in charge as a 2-1 win over Chelsea at Anfield moved the Reds back top of the Premier League on Sunday.

Mohamed Salah’s penalty and Curtis Jones’ winner made it 10 wins in 11 games since Slot succeeded Jurgen Klopp.

Nicolas Jackson briefly levelled for Chelsea, who enjoyed nearly 60 percent possession, but they slipped to a first league defeat since losing to Manchester City on the opening weekend of the season.

Victory takes Liverpool one point ahead of City and four clear of Arsenal, who they face at the Emirates next weekend.

“Many other games were hard but this might have been the hardest because of the amount of quality players they have and the structure they have,” said Slot. “We had to fight really hard to get this one over the line.”

Chelsea are now seven points off the top down in sixth, but there was plenty cause for optimism for the Blues from a performance that stretched Liverpool to their limits.

“We lost, we are not happy, but the performance with and without the ball was very good,” said Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca.

“I’ve been in this stadium many times and to see Liverpool in their (half) for a long time is not easy.” Liverpool’s only defeat under Slot came to Nottingham Forest following September’s international break.

– Jones makes his mark –

The Dutchman responded by this time leaving all of his South American internationals — Alexis Mac Allister, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez — on the bench after their exertions in recent days across the Atlantic.

The decision to hand Jones just his second league start of the season proved an inspired one as the England international won Liverpool’s penalty and scored the decisive goal.

Chelsea settled nicely into their rhythm and pushed the home side back by dominating the ball in the opening half hour.

However, Liverpool’s pace on the break was a constant threat and Chelsea were caught out when Salah fed Jones, who was chopped down by Levi Colwill.

Salah slammed home his 10th goal against his former club from the resulting penalty.

The Egyptian now has 162 Premier League goals, equal with former Spurs and England striker Jermain Defoe, to sit within the top 10 all-time scorers in the competition’s history.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ post-game coverage, Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher believes the 32-year-old will “have an eye on Thierry Henry (175 PL goals) and Frank Lampard (177 goals) by the end of this season.”

Despite rumours Salah’s time at Anfield could draw to a close at season’s end, Carragher is of the opinion “stats like this are one of the biggest reasons why Mo Salah will sign a new contract at Liverpool.”

“I think these are things that really get the juices flowing for Mo Salah.”

Moments later, Cody Gakpo slotted in at the end of a lightning Liverpool counter-attack, but Salah had strayed offside before delivering the assist.

At the other end, Jackson smashed off the angle of post and bar in the first sign that Chelsea had some punch to their possession football.

Chelsea, though, had another escape just before half-time when referee John Brooks initially pointed to the spot once more when Jones went down under a challenge from Robert Sanchez.

VAR intervened, however, as the Spanish goalkeeper got a touch on the ball before making contact with Jones.

Within three minutes of the restart for the second half, the Blues were back level as VAR played another helping hand for the visitors.

Jackson latched onto Moises Caicedo’s through ball and coolly slotted past Caoimhin Kelleher for his fifth goal in eight Premier League games.

The Senegalese striker was ruled offside on the field, but was shown to be played on by Ibrahima Konate on replay.

Liverpool took just three minutes to restore their lead as Jones timed his run perfectly to control and flick in Salah’s cross.

Chelsea forced Slot’s men to defend their lead for the final 40 minutes but struggled to create clear-cut chances for the equaliser until seven minutes of stoppage time.

Renato Vega headed over Cole Palmer’s free-kick before Christopher Nkunku failed to get a telling touch to Pedro Neto’s teasing cross