Liverpool kept its push for a top-four finish on course as Emre Can thundered home a second-half winner to complete a hard earned 2-1 Premier League comeback win over Burnley at a relieved Anfield Sunday. Juergen Klopp's side were again out of sorts but earned their first back-to-back league wins this year to keep up the pressure on the league's leading trio.
While nowhere near their scintillating best, typifying their uneven form of 2017, they displayed character to strike back after going behind to an Ashley Barnes goal after seven minutes.
With the league's worst travellers Burnley dreaming of their first away win of the season, the out-of-sorts Reds were grateful to equalize just before halftime through their first shot on target from Georginio Wijnaldum.
Liverpool looked short of ideas before German international Can produced a blow from seemingly nowhere just after the hour mark, bending his low 25-meter strike into the bottom corner past a despairing Tom Heaton.
The victory gives Liverpool 55 points, putting it a point behind second-placed Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City and 11 adrift of leader Chelsea. The top three, though, also have a game in hand over the Reds.
Son's treble in Spurs win
Son Heung-min grabbed a hat trick as he seamlessly filled the void left by Harry Kane's injury-enforced early departure, powering Tottenham into the FA Cup semifinals with a 6-0 rout of third-tier Millwall Sunday.
The South Korean made it six goals in four FA Cup games this season and he even set up fellow forward Vincent Janssen to end a seven-month wait for a goal from open play since joining Tottenham.
Christian Eriksen, who replaced Kane after 10 minutes, provided the cross for Son's third after scoring the opener and also set up Dele Alli's second-half strike.
But the joy at sealing Tottenham's trip to the semifinals for the first time in five years was tempered by Kane's ankle injury. Tottenham's top scorer missed 10 games after twisting the same right ankle in September and manager Mauricio Pochettino fears the worst again after he left in a protective boot.
Son's first goal came after initially struggling to control a pass but he recovered, cutting inside defender Jake Cooper and curling a shot into the far corner five minutes before halftime. Son doubled his tally nine minutes into the second half, getting ahead of Cooper again to latch onto Kieran Trippier's high pass from the halfway line and volleying into the net. The third in stoppage time was helped into the net by goalkeeper Tom King who let Son's strike slip through his legs as he fumbled the save.
Son was also the target of abuse from some Millwall fans when he touched the ball in the first half at White Hart Lane, with chants of "DVD" and "selling three for a fiver" aimed at him.
Tottenham joins north London rival Arsenal and Manchester City in a strong semifinal lineup that will be completed after Chelsea hosts Manchester United Monday. — Agencies
