Premier League, midweek 30: Liverpool back within one point of first

It wasn’t by quite the scoreline that Liverpool fans have grown accustomed to, but the Reds kept their winning streak going with a 2-1 victory against relegation-threatened Sunderland, pulling to within a point of league leaders Chelsea in the process.

The visitors set out to defend and more or less succeeded in frustrating Liverpool’s normally free-scoring attack, relegating the hosts to a series of frustrated, long-range shots. But the problem with doing this is that eventually one of those long-range efforts will wind up on target, and the Reds finally managed to make the breakthrough just before halftime.

Not bad, old man.

Liverpool certainly should be able to beat a Sunderland team which continues to flounder in the relegation zone. Gus Poyet’s side has a few games in hand on the teams around them, though certainly would rather just have some more points on the board. They’re winless in their last four league games, and are three points adrift of safety at present.

Liverpool injuries and suspensions

Certainly not after today.

Arsenal aren’t especially comfortably in fourth place anymore.

As it turned out, they were pretty dangerous on the counter-attack too, taking the lead with their very first foray forward in the 11th minute. Neil Taylor’s deep cross from the left was met by Wilfried Bony in the box, and the Ivorian’s looping header sailed into the back of the net and stunned the Emirates into silence.

Unfortunately for Arsenal, they didn’t have any more luck early in the second half. Swansea often defended superbly, forming an impenetrable defensive wall on the edge of their area. It meant that on the rare occasion the Gunners did manage to work the ball into the area, the chance was swiftly snuffed out.

There are perfect starts to football matches and then there is what happened in the opening minute of Wednesday’s match. City poured immediate pressure on the United goal, marching down the field from the kickoff like hungry wolves on a fresh kill.

Manchester United essentially didn’t even touch the ball before the goal, not counting block on Silva’s effort seconds before the actual goal.

Everton are still within a shout for fourth place, and they certainly didn’t do their chances any damage at St. James’ Park, running riot over a thoroughly mediocre Newcastle United in a 3-0 win.

An entertaining first half ended 1-0 to Everton, who took the lead in the 22nd minute through a fantastic solo goal from Ross Barkley. Prior to the opener, the match was superbly poised, with chances at both ends -- James McCarthy blocked goal-bound shots from Papiss Cisse and then Yoann Gouffran in quick succession, while Tim Krul had to be alert to stop Romelu Lukaku after a superb pass from Leon Osman carved the Magpies wide open.

Kickoff is at 7:45 p.m. local time, 3:45 p.m. ET from Old Trafford. You can catch the game on Sky Sports 1 in the UK, NBC Sports Network in the US and TSN in Canada.

Emirates Stadium; Tuesday, 19:45 GMT/3:45 PM ET

Old Trafford; Tuesday, 19:45 GMT/3:45 PM ET

Sometimes the best medicine for a bad loss is getting right back out on the field and playing another game. Arsenal will hope that classic sports cliché is true as they prepare to welcome Swansea City to the Emirates, just three days after their brutal 6-0 defeat at the hands of Chelsea.

Arsene Wenger cotninues to battle against injuries with central defender Laurent Koscielny the latest player to end up on the sidelines. On the bright side, neither Keiran Gibbs or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be out after a case of mistaken identity saw Gibbs wrongly sent off on Saturday.

Both teams will be without their first choice strikers with City’s Sergio Agüero (hamstring) and United’s Robin van Persie (knee) both on the sidelines.

Match Date/Time: 7:45 p.m. local, 3:45 p.m. ET

That day will come again, mostly because the two big sides from Manchester are two of the richest teams in the world. But Manchester United have struggled in their first post-Ferguson season to a degree very few predicted, and it wouldn’t be surprising if City walked this edition of the Derby, nor would the damage to United be anything but psychological.

The fact that there isn’t really anything left to play for won’t make a bad loss on Tuesday sting any less for Manchester United fans, though. They’re not going to finish in fourth place or win a trophy this season, but they’d certainly feel a lot better about the future if they could avoid a beating at the hands of their cross-town rivals, who will look very much like title favorites if they come out of Old Trafford with all three points.