LIVERPOOL, England — Philippe Coutinho scored a late winner against Manchester City at Anfield for the second straight season as Liverpool won 2-1 on Sunday to dent the champions’ chances of hauling in Premier League leader Chelsea.
The in-form Brazilian playmaker capped his latest impressive display by curling in a 25-meter shot in the 75th minute, adding another long-distance strike to his repertoire of recent stunning goals.
"He’s a joy to watch," Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said of the 22-year-old Coutinho, one of the league’s best players in 2015. "He’s a kid who has so much ahead of him. A sensational footballer, and now he’s starting to add the goals to mirror that quality."
Watch Sunday’s highlights: Liverpool 2, Manchester City 1 || Arsenal 2, Everton 0
Captain Jordan Henderson whipped in a near-identical finish to put Liverpool ahead in the 11th and although Edin Dzeko equalized in the 25th after a slick move, City was sluggish in a match it needed to win to keep the pressure on Chelsea.
City stayed five points behind Chelsea but has played a game more than the leaders, who beat Tottenham 2-0 in the League Cup final on Sunday at Wembley Stadium.
"I think we never give up about the title," City manager Manuel Pellegrini said. "We must try to improve our play first."
Liverpool, which is unbeaten in the league since Dec. 14, climbed above Southampton to fifth and stayed two points behind Manchester United in the race for Champions League qualification.
City managed to recover last April from Coutinho’s winning goal — that time in the 78th minute — to go on a winning run and pip Liverpool to the title. It will take another huge effort to overcome Chelsea, especially on this evidence.
Liverpool was expected to be drained from a grueling Europa League journey in midweek to Besiktas, where it lost on penalties. The squad only returned to Liverpool at 4.30 a.m. on Friday.
Yet, Brendan Rodgers’ team looked fresher than a sluggish City. The hosts’ pressing game was relentless and top City players like Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri struggled to keep possession.
"To prepare yourself for a game against the champions like that is no mean feat," Rodgers said. "To play and perform at that intensity, you have to admire that."
And in Coutinho, Liverpool had the best player on the pitch, continuing his great run of form from the start of the year. Goals from long distance are becoming his speciality, having done so against Bolton in the FA Cup and Southampton in the league in the past month.
"The little magician at the end came up with a wonderful goal," Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana said. "With players like that, we’ll go far."
Coutinho played a key role in Henderson’s goal, nipping in front of Vincent Kompany to pounce on Pablo Zabaleta’s weak, short pass. He played in Sterling, whose sideways ball was taken on by Henderson before the stand-in captain curled a shot home from outside the area.
Lallana wasted two great chances — and had a goal disallowed for a marginal offside — while Sterling also exposed City’s weakness at centre back to breeze past Eliaquim Mangala and shoot across the face of goal.
City was fortunate to be level at halftime. Aguero, who hit the post early on, cut inside and slipped in a pass that Dzeko — starting for the third straight game — ran onto and shot first time low into the corner.
City was one-paced after the break, despite the importance of picking up three points, and Liverpool created all the chances.
Sterling miscued from in front of goal and another Lallana goal was ruled out for an earlier offside. Coutinho made no mistake, though, cutting inside past Samir Nasri and curling a shot beyond goalkeeper Joe Hart.
Aguero and David Silva had late chances for City, but an equalizer would have been harsh on Liverpool.
"It is a significant win for us," Rodgers said."
Giroud bounces back from midweek nightmare as Arsenal beats Everton
LONDON — Olivier Giroud bounced back from a wretched midweek performance in the Champions League to set Arsenal on its way to a 2-0 win over Everton that trimmed the gap to second-place Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday.
The France striker, who missed several chances and was substituted early in a 3-1 home defeat to Monaco on Wednesday, volleyed in Mesut Ozil’s corner to give Arsenal a 39th-minute lead at the Emirates.
Substitute Tomas Rosicky added a second goal from a deflected shot in the 89th to seal a seventh win in eight league games, keeping Arsenal in third place and only four behind City. The champions lost 2-1 at Liverpool earlier Sunday.
"The result was very significant for the rest of the season," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. "It is tight at the top of the table. It is down to consistency."
Giroud started despite his woes against Monaco and the striker responded with a fourth goal in his last four games.
"Arsene Wenger gave me the possibility to bounce back," Giroud said. "We wanted to do that together and I think we did well."
Everton was challenging for Champions League football last season but now is in danger of being sucked into the relegation scrap. With only one win in the league since Dec. 20, Roberto Martinez’s team is six points off the bottom three and only threatened sporadically against Arsenal.
"We didn’t deserve the score line, that is for sure," Martinez said. "I thought we did many good things.
"It will take a bit of momentum in terms of results. If you get two or three wins everything changes."
