Arsenal beat Liverpool as Gerrard backs title challenge

Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield strengthened their position in the Premier League title race, while Steven Gerrard said Liverpool had work to do if they hoped to challenge for the championship. Kai Havertz scored in the first half to give Arsenal the victory. The result put Arsenal three points ahead of Manchester City at the top of the table, according to reports after the match. Liverpool were fifth and nine points behind Arsenal at that point. Gerrard, the former Liverpool captain, said his old club had “shot themselves in the foot” by conceding early. He also pointed to an Alexis Mac Allister chance and a penalty incident, and said a draw would have been fair based on the overall balance of play. Those were his assessments of the match, which Arsenal won. He praised Arsenal for earning a result in a difficult away fixture and said the team had shown it could win in different ways. Gerrard said the victory could prove important by the end of the season and predicted Arsenal would win the league, a view he said he had held since the start of the campaign. His forecast is an opinion, not a confirmed outcome. Gerrard’s comments on potential challengers were...