LONDON: A moment of madness from Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard and a two-goal burst from Juan Mata made it a day to savour for Manchester United.

And as United’s return to the Champions League moved a step closer, Chelsea maintained their pursuit of the Premier League title with a slender win at Hull City on Sunday.

United were already leading when Gerrard, making his final appearance against them before his close-season move to LA Galaxy, produced a red-card stamp 32 seconds after coming off the bench at the start of the second half.

United were made to fight for their 2-1 victory, with Mata adding to his 14th-minute goal at Anfield with a sublime scissor-kick in the 59th and Daniel Sturridge scoring a consolation.

Fourth-placed United have 59 points from 30 matches, five more than Liverpool in fifth with Gerrard apologising for a mistake that could cost his team a place in next season’s Champions League.

“I have let my team-mates and manager down today, even more importantly I let all the supporters down and I take full responsibility for my action,” he said.

United’s victory would have been even bigger if Wayne Rooney’s stoppage-time penalty hadn’t been saved by Simon Mignolet, but boss Louis van Gaal was content with a success which keeps them one point behind third-placed Arsenal who won 2-1 against Newcastle United on Saturday courtesy two first-half strikes from Olivier Giroud.

They are also six points clear of sixth-placed Southampton, who lead Tottenham Hotspur in seventh on goal-difference. Southampton beat Burnley 2-0 at St. Mary’s on Saturday when Spurs striker Harry Kane celebrated his first senior England call up with a hat-trick as they beat bottom side Leicester City 4-3.

“It’s an amazing result for the fans, because we’ve beaten Liverpool three times this season. We now have a gap from positions five, six and seven which is very important,” he said.

Chelsea regained their six-point lead over Manchester City at the top thanks to a hard-fought 3-2 victory against Hull at the KC Stadium.

Eden Hazard’s thumping strike gave Chelsea the advantage inside the first two minutes and Diego Costa added a second before Hull responded in blistering fashion to score twice in 74 seconds through Ahmed Elmohamady and Abel Hernandez.

Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois made a fantastic treble-save to deny Hull in the second half and substitute Loic Remy restored the visitors’ lead with a shot that squirmed under Hull stopper Allan McGregor.

Chelsea, who still boast a game in hand over Manchester City, have 67 points from 29 matches, while Hull are 15th with 28 points from 30 games.

Queens Park Rangers’ hopes of Premier League survival were dealt a blow by 13th-placed Everton, who stole a 2-1 win at Loftus Road through on-loan Tottenham Hotspur winger Aaron Lennon. QPR remain 19th, four points adrift of fourth-bottom Sunderland.

Published in Dawn March 23rd , 2015

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