Man City benefit from Chelsea-Pool draw

LONDON, England (AP):

The only winner yesterday was Manchester City. And Romelu Lukaku certainly lost out.

What a pulsating, entertaining encounter for Lukaku to miss -- not out of his own choosing -- as Chelsea recovered to draw 2-2 with Liverpool without the temporarily exiled striker.

It left City 10 points clear from Chelsea at the top of the English Premier League (EPL) with Liverpool a further point back.

The sky blue ribbons look like remaining on the trophy for another year thanks to the fading challenge from the chasing pack.

"It is a big gap," Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk said. "They have the title, maybe, to lose but anything can happen."

That's even before Liverpool are the hardest hit by players heading to the African Cup of Nations. Before leaving for what could be more than a month away, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah did contribute Liverpool's goals.

Liverpool seemed to be coasting but were stung twice at the end of the first half with Mateo Kovacic's volley and Christian Pulisic's strike pulling Chelsea level.

It was an engrossing and wild game that was only tempered after the break by the goalkeeping of Chelsea's Edouard Mendy denying Salah and Liverpool's Caoimhin Kelleher's reflexes thwarting Pulisic's pursuit of a winner.

Turn away and you could miss another wondrous moment.

"For the public it must have been an unbelievable game," said Liverpool assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders, deputising for coronavirus isolating Jurgen Klopp.

It was a game to keep fans on their toes -- which they could do legally in parts of an EPL stadium for the first time in 28 years as part of standing trials.

"It was a brilliant match," Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said. "Everybody not in the stadium missed something."

None more so than Chelsea record-signing Lukaku who was dropped by Tuchel for an outburst questioning his limited role in the team.