More woes for Manchester clubs in English Premier League

MANCHESTER, England (AP):

Erling Haaland’s failure from the penalty spot and Bruno Fernandes’ latest red card compounded the woes of Manchester City and Manchester United on another tough day for the two Premier League giants.

There were no such problems for Liverpool, who rallied to a 3-1 win over Leicester in foggy conditions at Anfield and moved seven points clear atop the standings approaching the halfway point of the campaign.

City dropped more points in their improbably poor run of form by drawing 1-1 at home to Everton, with Haaland having a spot kick saved by England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in the 53rd minute.

The four-time defending champions have only won one of their last 13 games in all competitions, and manager Pep Guardiola acknowledged he needs to spend in the January transfer window to reverse City’s slide.

“The transfer window in the winter is not easy, but even the players know that we have to add some new players,” said Guardiola, who has had to cope without a host of key players, including Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, through injury this season.

While City are languishing in seventh place, United are even further adrift in 14th place after a 2-0 loss at lowly Wolverhampton.

United played almost the entire second half with 10 men after Fernandes collected his second yellow card in the 47th minute. It was the United captain’s third sending-off of the season though one was rescinded.

After seeing second-place Chelsea also drop points after conceding in the fifth minute of stoppage time to lose 2-1 at home to Fulham, Liverpool recovered from conceding in the sixth minute against Leicester to extend their lead. Cody Gakpo, Curtis Jones, and Mohamed Salah scored Liverpool’s goals.

Nottingham Forest won 1-0 against Tottenham and are a big surprise in third place.

City pain

City secured only its fifth point in the league since the end of October, but that will be scant consolation to Guardiola, whose beleaguered team squandered a winning position after going ahead through Bernardo Silva’s deflected shot in the 14th. Iliman Ndiaye equalised in the 36th.

Haaland’s penalty failure means the Norway international has only scored once in his last seven games. He headed in from the rebound after his spot kick, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

Haaland, who last week admitted his form had not been good enough during a run that has seen City’s season unravel, held his head in his hands after his failure to score from the spot. He still has 18 goals in 25 appearances this season but has not scored in a win for his club since the 1-0 victory against Southampton on October 26.