Salah misses penalty as Liverpool slip to defeat away to Leciester

London, Dec. 29 (IANS): Liverpool remain six points behind Premier League leaders Manchester City after suffering a 1-0 defeat away to Leicester City here.

The team coached by former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers rode their luck on Tuesday night when Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah fired a penalty against the woodwork, before hitting the rebound wide and Ademola Lookman’s 59th-minute strike decided the game.

Lookman had only been in the game for three minutes when he burst past Joel Matip and scored with a low shot, shortly after Sadio Mane had missed for Liverpool when he looked certain to score.

Liverpool had enough chances to have taken at least a point, but for once their strikers had an off day which leaves them level on 41 points with Chelsea, while Manchester City have 47.

West Ham produced an impressive performance to win 4-1 away to relegation-threatened Watford with goals from Tomas Soucek, Said Benrahma, Mark Noble and Nikola Vlasic allowing them to bounce back after Emmanuel Dennis’ third-minute opener had given Watford a perfect start to the game, Xinhua reports. Soucek levelled from Jarrod Bowen’s pass in the 27th minute and two minutes later Benrahma, who had earlier hit the woodwork, put West Ham in front.

Mark Noble added West Ham’s third from the penalty spot on 58 minutes after Bowen had been fouled and Vlasic’s injury-time goal rounded off an excellent afternoon for David Moyes’ side.

Southampton played with 10 men for 50 minutes but held on for a 1-1 draw at home to Tottenham.

James Ward Prowse put Southampton ahead, but Harry Kane leveled from the penalty spot in the 40th minute after Mohammed Salisu brought down Son Heung-min in an action that cost the Saints’ defender his second yellow card of the game.

Kane later had a goal ruled out for a tight offside, but the result means Antonio Conte is unbeaten in his first seven matches as Tottenham coach.

Finally, Crystal Palace beat bottom of the table Norwich 3-0 thanks to first half goals from Odsonne Edouard, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jeffrey Schlupp, who punished some poor defending from a rival that has lost five consecutive games.

The scheduled games between Arsenal and Wolves and Leeds United and Aston Villa have been postponed due to outbreaks of Covid-19.