Chelsea secured a crucial 3-1 victory over newly-crowned Premier League champions Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, boosting their Champions League qualification hopes, while Manchester United’s struggles continued with a 4-3 defeat at Brentford, extending their winless league run to six games.
Chelsea’s win began with Enzo Fernandez’s early strike, followed by Jarell Quansah’s own goal. Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk pulled one back before Cole Palmer sealed the victory with a stoppage-time penalty.
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Chelsea now sit fifth in the table, level on points with fourth-placed Newcastle, who drew 1-1 at Brighton. Nottingham Forest could join them on 63 points with a win against Crystal Palace on Monday.
“Very important three points, especially at this stage in the season,” Maresca said. “For sure, Chelsea has to fight for Champions League and hopefully in the future we can fight for something more important. In this moment we are there and hopefully we can finish there.”
Liverpool, who clinched their record-equalling 20th English title last weekend against Tottenham, suffered only their third league defeat this season.
Manchester United’s poor form continued as they fell to 15th place after their defeat at Brentford. Mason Mount opened the scoring with his second league goal since joining from Chelsea.
Brentford responded through Luke Shaw’s own goal, followed by Kevin Schade’s header from Christian Norgaard’s cross.
Schade added another header in the 70th minute, while Yoane Wissa scored his 18th league goal of the season. United managed late consolation goals through Garnacho and Amad Diallo.
“The players have to understand we cannot do this anymore, we know the context of the season and we need to change that,” Amorim said.
Tottenham’s struggles persisted with a 1-1 draw at West Ham. They sit 16th in the table with only one win in their last nine league matches.
Wilson Odobert gave Tottenham the lead from Mathys Tel’s pass, but Jarrod Bowen equalised for West Ham after receiving Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s pass.
Tottenham made eight changes to their lineup ahead of their Europa League semi-final second leg against Bodo/Glimt, where they hold a 3-1 advantage.
In the Brighton-Newcastle match, Yankuba Minteh scored against his former club in the 28th minute. Alexander Isak converted a late penalty for his 23rd league goal this season to secure a point for Newcastle.
