Liverpool suffer rare defeat, Southampton relegated in record time

London: Liverpool endured a rare stumble in their march to the title with a 3-2 loss at Fulham on Sunday as Southampton suffered the earliest relegation in Premier League history when they were beaten 3-1 at Tottenham Hotspur.

The Manchester derby ended goalless for the first time since 2020 as City failed to leapfrog fourth-placed Chelsea, who were held to a 0-0 draw by Brentford but sit a point above Pep Guardiola's side.

Fulham enjoyed a deserved win over Liverpool, capitalising on dreadful defending to boost their push for European football next season.

Liverpool, whose 26-game unbeaten run in the league ended with their second loss this season, remained top with 73 points from 31 games, 11 ahead of Arsenal who drew 1-1 at Everton on Saturday.

Arne Slot's Liverpool need only 11 points from their remaining seven matches to win the title.

Alexis Mac Allister gave the champions-elect an early lead before the Reds conceded three poor goals in 14 minutes.

Ryan Sessegnon rifled home a superb first-time volley, after Curtis Jones failed to clear a cross, before a series of mistakes from Andy Robertson allowed Alex Iwobi to score.

Rodrigo Muniz completed the turnaround, winning a second ball with a lovely first touch ahead of Virgil van Dijk, then producing a sublime finish through Caoimhin Kelleher's legs.

"It's not often we concede three goals let alone in one game or 15 minutes. We could have prevented it... Conceding three goals like we did is not of the standards of Liverpool," Slot said.

Liverpool substitute Luis Diaz poked home with nearly 20 minutes to play but Fulham held on for the victory and moved up to eighth with 48 points.

"Great win for us," Fulham manager Marco Silva told Sky Sports. "Our first half was very, very good, in all aspects of the game."

Earliest Relegation

Southampton's loss to Spurs confirmed their demotion to the second tier with seven games left in the season.

They had needed a victory to keep their survival bid alive but the south-coast club have only 10 points after 31 games to sit rock bottom and 22 points from the safety zone.

"We knew it was probably going to be inevitable at some point, we haven't been good enough all season... It is a sad day and one that this group of players will learn from," Southampton keeper Aaron Ramsdale told Sky Sports.

Spurs forward Brennan Johnson scored twice in the first half before Southampton's Mateus Fernandes halved the deficit in the 90th minute.

Any hopes of a Southampton comeback were extinguished, however, when they conceded a penalty and Mathys Tel converted the spot-kick.

Spurs moved to 14th in the standings on 37 points, a point behind Manchester United in 13th.

Old Trafford did not deliver a thriller in Kevin De Bruyne's last Manchester derby as United manager Ruben Amorim remained unbeaten against City for the third time this season - including a win with former club Sporting Lisbon.

"We were very well organised. But the killer instinct was missing today," United captain Bruno Fernandes said.

Away blues

Chelsea, who have not won in the Premier League away from Stamford Bridge since early December, extended their run without a win on the road to eight games.

They are fourth in the table, occupying the last of the guaranteed Champions League spots.

"We played Thursday night, so the idea was to start the game in one way and finish in another way. I think the plan nearly worked. We just the missed the goal," Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca said.

Brentford, who have not won at home since early December, remained 12th.

Newcastle United travel to Leicester City on Monday.