Liverpool’s Top Four Chase Dealt Wicked Blow at Bournemouth

PREMIER LEAGUE

Mohamed Salah’s glaring penalty miss helped Bournemouth climb out of the relegation zone after an excellent 1-0 win which damaged Liverpool’s chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.

The Reds were brought back down to earth after last week’s 7-0 thrashing of Manchester Unitedas the Cherries, who started the weekend bottom, did their survival chances a power of good.

Liverpool were punished for poor defending when the unmarked Philip Billing struck from eight yards for his sixth Premier League goal of the season after fine work by Dango Ouattara.

Virgil van Dijk had a header cleared off the line at 0-0 and substitute Diogo Jota was denied by Neto’s fine save before Liverpool won a penalty when the Portugal forward’s header was handled by Adam Smith.

But Salah, who became Liverpool’s all-time top Premier League scorerwith 129 goals last week, blazed the penalty wide much to the delight of Bournemouth’s fans.

While the win ensured Bournemouth finished the day 17th, Jurgen Klopp’s side missed the chance to go fourth for the first time this season after a lethargic display.

Elsewhere, Chelsea’s mini-revival continued with a third victory in a row as they consigned struggling Leicester City to a fifth consecutive defeat.

Buoyed by their Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea started brightly and Ben Chilwell volleyed in from a tight angle against his old club.

Chelsea’s Joao Felix and Leicester’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall hit the woodwork in the space of two minutes, then Felix had a goal ruled out by the video assistant referee for offside.

Patson Daka rifled home an excellent equaliser after Ricardo Pereira won the ball off the dawdling Felix outside the box.

But Kai Havertz pounced six minutes into first-half injury time with an excellent dinked finish from Enzo Fernandez’s clever aerial ball.

Mykhailo Mudryk thought he had his first goal for the Blues after the break but his effort was disallowed for offside.

Mateo Kovacic sealed the win as he volleyed in from Mudryk’s header.

The sliding Foxes, who ended with 10 men following Wout Faes’ late dismissal for a second booking, now just sit one point outside the relegation zone.