Liverpool’s rivals Manchester City dropped more points as it was held at home by Everton in a 1-1 Boxing Day draw.
City’s awful run - which felt scarcely believable just a few months ago - has stretched to just one win in the last 13 matches in all competitions and means it hasn’t won any of the last four Premier League games.
City now sit 11 points off spot having played two more games than leaders Liverpool - a gap that surely rules the reigning champions out of the title race.
The Blues had taken the lead in the 14th minute via Bernardo Silva but were pegged back when Everton’s Iliman Ndiaye capitalized on some slack defending. City had thought it was about to see the lead restored when awarded a second-half penalty, only for Erling Haaland to see his shot denied by Jordan Pickford.
To compound matters, the saved effort was crossed in for Haaland to head home, but a raised offside flag meant it was chalked off. It summed up City’s day - and run in recent weeks - and despite amassing 67 percent possession and 24 shots compared to Everton’s eight, couldn’t find a second goal.
The result means City could end the current round of festive fixtures in 10th place, and are next in action on Sunday when the team travels to Leicester for the final match of 2024.
Despite dropping more points, Pep Guardiola praised the performance of his players. “We played really good but we are in the period right now that is what happens, we create, we concede the first time [an Everton shot] arrives. But yeah, we keep going,” he said after the match.
"The performance against that team was really good offensively and defensively. We shot a lot inside the 18-yard box but unfortunately couldn't get the result we wanted.”
As for Everton, it now sits five points clear of the relegation zone, although that could change depending on results elsewhere over the next day.
“I was worried about coming here because it will change at some point,” Sean Dyche told Amazon Prime after the game. “I thought we handled it really well. There is an underlying feeling they will pull a result out of the bag and we handled it well.”