Manchester City endured 93 minutes of frustration before Gareth Barry’s stoppage-time header earned the Premier League champions a precious 1-0 victory over bottom club Reading yesterday to keep the pressure on leaders Manchester United.
Roberto Mancini’s side, who won the title in the dying seconds of last season, displayed the handy knack of scoring late again as Barry’s goal broke Reading’s resistance and moved City to within three points of United who play at Swansea today.
City have 39 points from 18 games, followed by four clubs on 30 points after a rainswept opening to the busy holiday programme yielded a mere 10 goals.
A second-half penalty by Mikel Arteta earned Arsenal a 1-0 victory at Wigan as the Gunners moved up to third place while north London rivals Tottenham fell out of the top four after a 0-0 home draw with Stoke City.
Everton climbed to fourth, making light of Marouane Fellaini’s absence to win 2-1 at West Ham in game in which both sides ended with 10 men.
West Brom also reached the 30-point mark after ending Norwich’s 10-match unbeaten league run with Romelu Lukaku sealing a 2-1 victory eight minutes from time after Norwich had taken the lead at the Hawthorns.
Chelsea, who have 29 points from two fewer games, can jump back to third place if they beat Aston Villa this afternoon.
There was no pre-Christmas cheer for the bottom four with Reading, Wigan, Queens Park Rangers and Southampton all losing.
QPR’s revival under new manager Harry Redknapp came to a halt with a 1-0 defeat at Newcastle while Sunderland also edged clear of the bottom three after a 1-0 win at Southampton.
City were expected to breeze past a Reading side whose defence went missing in a Monday night thrashing by Arsenal but the visitors had not read the script.
Barry to the rescue
Reading were heading for a well-deserved point after restricting City to a handful of chances and even had a reasonable penalty shout waved away but they cracked three minutes into stoppage time.
David Silva crossed into the area as City launched one final assault and Barry, who appeared to have his hand on Reading defender Nicky Shorey, climbed to thump a header into the corner to the relief of the home fans and manager Mancini.
“I hoped, always. It was difficult. We had lots of possession but if you don’t score early it is very difficult,” Mancini told Sky Sports.
Arsenal claimed a third consecutive victory and, although they remain 12 points behind United, the storm clouds that were hanging over Arsene Wenger appear to be dispersing.
They were not as impressive as they were in the 5-2 win at Reading on Monday but showed plenty of resilience to grind out three points after Arteta dispatched his spot-kick following a clumsy tackle by Jean Beausejour on Theo Walcott on the hour.
Arouna Kone had wasted a glorious chance to give Wigan the lead in the first half and he was denied late on by Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny before Dave Jones thumped a shot narrowly wide of the upright with Szczesny rooted to the spot.
Despite Wigan’s late pressure Arsenal held on and will now get a week off after their Boxing Day clash with West Ham was postponed because of a train strike.
Everton trailed to a Carlton Cole goal at Upton Park but levelled through Victor Anichebe after 64 minutes before Steven Pienaar scrambled in the winner.
Cole was sent off for a high tackle on Leighton Baines while Darron Gibson saw red for Everton in the final minute. Both decisions were criticised by their respective managers.
Results and standings
Premier League
Liverpool 4
Skrtel 8; Gerrard 36; Downing 52; Suarez 90;
Fulham 0
HT: 2-0. Att: 44,000.
Man. City 1
Barry 90;
Reading 0
HT: 0-0. Att: 47,007.
Newcastle 1
Ameobi 81;
QPR 0
HT: 0-0. Att: 50,180.
Southampton 0
Sunderland 1
Fletcher 42;
HT: 0-1. Att: 31,275.
Tottenham 0
Stoke City 0
Att: 35,702.
West Brom 2
Gera 43; Lukaku 82;
Norwich 1
Snodgrass 23;
HT: 1-1. Att: 25,799.
West Ham 1
Cole 14;
Everton 2
Anichebe 64; Pienaar 73;
HT: 1-0. Att: 35,005.
Red cards: Cole (WH) 67; Gibson (E) 90.
Wigan 0
Arsenal 1
Arteta 60 pen;
HT: 0-0. Att: 21,754.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Man. United | 17 | 14 | 0 | 3 | 43 | 24 | 42 |
| Man. City | 18 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 34 | 15 | 39 |
| Arsenal | 18 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 32 | 18 | 30 |
| Everton | 18 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 30 | 22 | 30 |
| Tottenham | 18 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 30 | 25 | 30 |
| WBA | 18 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 26 | 22 | 30 |
| Chelsea | 16 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 28 | 17 | 29 |
| Liverpool | 18 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 27 | 23 | 25 |
| Stoke City | 18 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 15 | 13 | 25 |
| Norwich | 18 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 20 | 27 | 25 |
| Swansea | 17 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 26 | 22 | 23 |
| West Ham | 18 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 22 | 22 | 23 |
| Fulham | 18 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 28 | 33 | 20 |
| Newcastle | 18 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 20 | 26 | 20 |
| Sunderland | 18 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 19 | 24 | 19 |
| Aston Villa | 17 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 15 | 24 | 18 |
| Southampton | 17 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 22 | 33 | 15 |
| Wigan | 18 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 18 | 33 | 15 |
| QPR | 18 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 15 | 31 | 10 |
| Reading | 18 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 21 | 37 | 9 |
Playing today
Chelsea vs Aston Villa - 17:00
Swansea vs Man. United - 14:30
Top scorers
12 goals: Michu (Swansea), Van Persie (Man. United).
11 goals: Ba (Newcastle), Suarez (Liverpool).
9 goals: Defoe (Tottenham).
Next fixtures
Wednesday: Premier League 16.00 Everton vs Wigan; Fulham vs Southampton; Manchester United vs Newcastle; Norwich vs Chelsea; QPR vs West Brom; Reading vs Swansea; Sunderland vs Manchester City. 17.30 Aston Villa vs Tottenham. 20.45 Stoke City vs Liverpool. Postponed: Arsenal vs West Ham.
Saturday: Premier League 13.45 Sunderland vs Tottenham. 16.00 Aston Villa vs Wigan; Fulham vs Swansea; Man. United vs West Brom; Norwich vs Manchester City; Reading vs West Ham; Stoke vs Southampton. 18.30 Arsenal vs Newcastle.
Sunday: Premier League 14.30 Everton vs Chelsea; 17.00 QPR vs Liverpool.
The Championship
Birmingham 2 - Burnley 2
Blackburn p - Brighton p
C. Palace 1 - Huddersfield 1
Ipswich 1 - Bristol City 1
Leeds 2 - Middlesbrough 1
Leicester 0 - Cardiff 1
Millwall 1 - Barnsley 2
Peterborough 5 - Bolton 4
Sheff. Wed. 2 - Charlton 0
Watford 2 - N. Forest 0
Standings: Cardiff 47; Hull 44; C. Palace 43; Middlesbrough 41; Leicester, Watford, Millwall 37; Leeds 35; Brighton 34; Derby, N. Forest 33; Blackpool 32; Wolves 31; Burnley, Huddersfield 30; Bolton, Blackburn, Charlton 29; Birmingham 26; Ipswich 24; Sheffield Wednesday, Barnsley 21; Bristol City, Peterborough 19.
League One
Brentford p - Stevenage p
Coventry 1 - Preston 1
Crawley 0 - Sheffield Utd 2
Crewe p - Bournemouth p
Doncaster p - MK Dons p
Hartlepool p - Portsmouth p
Notts County p - L. Orient p
Scunthorpe p - Carlisle p
Walsall 1 - Colchester 0
Yeovil 4 - Oldham 1
Standings: Sheffield United 43; Tranmere, Brentford 41; Doncaster 40; Swindon, MK Dons 39; Stevenage 37; Notts County, Bournemouth, Crawley 35; Yeovil, Crewe 33; Coventry, L. Orient 31; Preston 30; Oldham, Walsall 26; Shrewsbury, Colchester, Carlisle 23; Portsmouth 21; Bury, Scunthorpe 20; Hartlepool 9.
League Two
Accrington 1 - Plymouth 1
Bristol Rovers p - Rotherham p
Morecambe p - Dagenham p
Northampton 2 - Aldershot 0
Oxford p - Fleetwood p
Port Vale p - Wimbledon p
Torquay p - Exeter City p
Wycombe p - Bradford City p
York p - Gillingham p
Standings: Gillingham 45; Port Vale 40; Cheltenham 39; Southend, Rotherham 37; Bradford 36; Exeter 34; Fleetwood, Northampton, Rochdale, Burton 33; Torquay, Chesterfield 32; Dagenham 31; York 30; Morecambe, Accrington 27; Wycombe, Oxford 26; Plymouth 23; Aldershot 21; Barnet, Wimbledon 19; Bristol Rovers 18.