London, November 22

Manchester City suffered a surprise 4-1 defeat by Liverpool while Jamie Vardy equalled a Premier League goalscoring record to leave Leicester as the shock leaders of English football’s top-flight on Saturday.

City started the late kick-off match at their Eastlands ground knowing victory would see them go top on a day when the Premier League paid tribute to the victims of the Paris terror attacks. But instead Manuel Pellegrini’s men found themselves 3-0 down inside 32 minutes after an Eliaquim Mangala own-goal preceded two sweeping Liverpool moves finished by the Brazilian pair of Phillippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino respectively. City pulled a goal back before the interval through Sergio Aguero’s 20-yard effort, but Jurgen Klopp’s visitors had the last word when Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel struck nine minutes from time.

Vardy equalled Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of scoring in 10 consecutive EPL games for his club by netting Leicester’s opener in a 3-0 win aaway to Newcastle during first-half stoppage-time at St James’ Park. Leonardo Ulloa’s header made it 2-0 in the 62nd minute before Japanese substitute Shinji Okazaki assured Italian manager Claudio Ranieri’s side of victory seven minutes from time.

Arsenal, who could have gone top themselves, suffered a an unexpected 2-1 loss away to West Bromwich Albion. It was just their third league defeat this season and hardly ideal preparation for their must-win Champions League group match at home to Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday. The Gunners took a 28th-minute lead through France striker Olivier Giroud but found themselves 2-1 down before half-time after James Morrison and an own-goal from Mikel Arteta put the Baggies in front. Santi Cazorla had a chance to equalise late on but blasted a penalty over the crossbar.

Champions Chelsea eased the pressure on manager Jose Mourinho with just their fourth win in 13 league matches this season as they beat Norwich 1-0 thanks to Diego Costa’s 64th-minute goal at the Stamford Bridge.

Everton ensured Aston Villa stayed bottom of the table with a 4-0 win at Goodison Park, with Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku scoring two goals apiece. Stoke striker Bojan Krkic gave his side a 1-0 win away to Southampton while Swansea came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at home to Bournemouth, a heartening result for under-fire manager Garry Monk.

Van Gaal eyes Ronaldo

LONDON: Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal confirmed on Saturday that he would be interested in bringing Cristiano Ronaldo back to Old Trafford, six years after the star left for Real Madrid. Van Gaal, quoted by several British Sunday newspapers, said of possible future transfer activity: “We are looking at all players, not just Ronaldo. But these players are mostly ungettable. With Ronaldo, let’s wait and hope. There is no trainer in the world that doesn’t like him.” Ronaldo cost Real Madrid a then world record fee of £80m when he left England in 2009. —AFP