De Gea inspires United, Spurs rise

The difference in fortunes since Liverpool won 3-0 away to Manchester United in March was illustrated when Louis Van Gaal's team reversed that scoreline on Sunday.

Nine months ago the Merseysiders were challenging strongly for the Premier League title and United, having their worst season for many years, would shortly sack manager David Moyes.

After a slow start to the campaign United appear to have been revitalised by Van Gaal and goals from Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata and Robin van Persie sealed a sixth consecutive league win to keep them in third place.

Liverpool are languishing in mid-table, dropping to 10th after Tottenham Hotspur climbed above them with a 2-1 victory at Swansea City in the day's other fixture.

That said, it was a flattering margin for United, with many observers making United's keeper David De Gea man of the match.

The Spaniard pulled off a succession of important saves, mainly from Raheem Sterling in the first half and substitute Mario Balotelli in the second.

It was a typically feisty contest between the old rivals, ending with seven yellow cards, four to United before halftime.

Other statistics showed Liverpool had more shots and corners as well as plenty of possession but crucially they could not convert their chances, and made mistakes in conceding each goal.

Liverpool could claim luck was against them, with the second goal clearly offside but as manager Brendan Rodgers admitted they contributed to their own downfall.

"We created enough chances to win but we made defensive mistakes, which is what cost us," he told Sky Sports.

"I thought we did enough to win the game. But you can't concede the goals we did."

For the first one in the 13th minute, Joe Allen allowed Antonio Valencia to push the ball through his legs and had no cover behind him as the Ecuadorean played a square pass for Rooney to beat goalkeeper Brad Jones with ease.

Australian Jones was brought in as replacement for Simon Mignolet to start his first Premier League game since March 2013, but he was beaten again five minutes before halftime.

As Ashley Young cut back to cross, Mata was not offside but he was by the time Van Persie flicked the ball on.

Rodgers sent on Balotelli for Adam Lallana at the interval and Liverpool continued to see plenty of the ball.

Sterling should have scored five minutes into the second half after latching onto Jonny Evans's weak back pass but, one-on-one with De Gea, he allowed the keeper to deny him.

The young England international did better midway through the second half in setting up Balotelli, but De Gea pushed the Italian's shot onto the crossbar.

BAD DEFENDING

United's third goal stemmed from a classic counter-attack but was still helped by bad defending.

Mata sent Rooney away and Dejan Lovren should have cleared his cross. Off-balance, he skewed it straight to Mata, whose perfect pass was drilled in by Van Persie for a seventh league goal of the season.

There was still time for De Gea to make two more quality saves from Balotelli.

Van Gaal said that his goalkeeper "had a big influence" but was also critical of United for the number of chances they allowed the opposition.

"We have to improve that," he told reporters. "We are winning now - six matches in a row is fantastic - but we still have to improve our playing style."

Tottenham's 2-1 away to Swansea moved them into seventh position, two places above the Welsh club.

Harry Kane headed Spurs in front in the fourth minute, Wilfried Bony equalised early in the second half with his eighth goal in the last 10 games but Christian Eriksen scored the winner just before the end.

Eriksen's late show sees Spurs win

Christian Eriksen scored his sixth goal of the season, one minute from time, to earn Tottenham a 2-1 win at Swansea on Sunday to end a three match winless run and push the London club into the top half of the Premier League table.

Swansea's leading scorer Wilfried Bony appeared to have earned his side a point when he cancelled out Harry Kane's early goal.

However, careless defending from the home side allowed Eriksen to win the day with a firm strike that lifted Spurs into the top seven.

Having garnered only a single point from their previous two league games against Chelsea and Crystal Palace, the visitors were understandably keen to leave an early mark.

And they did exactly that when Kane rose to head home Eriksen's fourth minute corner.

Swansea's defeat at West Ham last Sunday had come at a price with goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski sent off in the second half.

However, they might have been level here, in the ninth minute when Wayne Routledge picked out leading scorer Bony. The Ivorian striker skipped outside Jan Vertonghen but was denied by a smart save from Hugo Lloris.

On his first league start since March, due to injury, Kyle Walker was booked after 14 minutes for deliberate handball. However, with Swansea struggling along the Spurs right, it was Walker and Eric Lamela who were causing the major problems.

A neat passing movement at the end of the first quarter saw Kane shoot just wide, while at the opposite end, the former Swansea left back Ben Davies produced a goal-saving tackle after Bony was sent into the penalty area by Montero's slide rule delivery.

Tottenham certainly looked susceptible to the pace of Bony, who led Federico Fazio a merry dance in the 25th minute before seeing his shot blocked.

Vertonghen became the second Spurs player to see yellow - a careless two-footed challenge on Routledge earning the Belgian a second caution of the season.

Ryan Mason followed his teammate into the book for a crude challenge on Leon Britton, but Swansea manager Garry Monk was more confused by referee Robert Madley's decision to ignore what appeared to be a blatant dive from Kane, five minutes before the break.

The young striker took the ball in his stride, but under no real pressure, duly went sprawling inside the 18 yard box. Monk had words with the fourth official and Mauricio Pochettino, who appeared to say that Kane had apparently slipped.

Swansea were level inside three minutes after the interval. Angel Rangel sent Routledge in to a position of promise and when the latter picked out Bony, the striker, at the second attempt, beat Lloris from eight yards.

It was no more than Swansea deserved, if only for their honest endeavour.

As for Spurs, it was another soft goal conceded. Davies allowed Routledge around the back and Fazio, once again, allowed Bony too much time and space in which to pick help himself to an eighth goal of the season.

Bony was unable to get enough on a header from Neil Taylor's cross, minutes later, and when Fazio was caught napping by Gylfi Sigurdsson, the Icelandic midfielder was denied only by an unfortunate slip.

Nabil Bentaleb and Mason had lost control of the middle third with Ki, who was booked in the 52nd minute, and Britton becoming increasingly more influential. However, sensing the need to provide an even bigger threat, Monk replaced the tiring Britton with Jonjo Shelvey.

By now, Spurs were happy to take whatever came their way. Kane saw a shot from distance, deflected for a corner, and Rangel was forced to clear after another crisp counter attack from Eriksen.

Bony was denied twice more as Swansea increased the tempo but it was Eriksen who won it in the 89th minute when he beat Gerhard Tremmel from 20 yards.

Leicester City sack director of football

Leicester City sacked director of football Terry Robinson on Sunday as the Premier League's bottom side look to avoid another transfer window of disappointment.

The central England side, who have not won since beating Manchester United 5-3 in September, announced on their website (www.lcfc.com/) that Robinson's contract had been terminated.

"Current Academy Director Jon Rudkin will assume the responsibilities of Director of Football," the statement added.

Manager Nigel Pearson may now be feeling he has some breathing space with the promoted side's troubles being pinned on recruitment before the season.

Of 10 new signings, only forward Leonardo Ulloa and midfielder Esteban Cambiasso have had any real impact on the first team with the former struggling for goals after an initial purple patch.

The Foxes, who count Gary Lineker among their most high profile fans, lost 1-0 at home to champions Manchester City on Saturday and have not won in 11 league games.

The Thai-owned club are three points adrift at the bottom on 10 points from 16 matches.

Coach hails Spurs' never-say-die character

Mauricio Pochettino was delighted with the strength of character shown by his Tottenham side after their last-gasp 2-1 Premier League victory over Swansea at the Liberty Stadium.

Christian Eriksen earned the visitors all three points with an 88th minute goal, after Wilfried Bony had cancelled out Harry Kane's early header.

It was enough to lift Tottenham into seventh place in the table and earn them a first win in four games.

"It was an important win, but it is also important to show character and fight and we did that," said Pochettino.

"They are a very good side with good players and it's not easy to get three points here.

"We scored a late goal, but in football it happens. Swansea pushed us after their goal and maybe they were better than us in that period. But we were always alive in the game and it was a great goal."

He added: "When you arrive at a new club, with different players, you need time to try and put your ideas across to the squad. However, we are in a good place and I'm very pleased today that we showed that character.

"Christian is still young and this is only his second season in England, but he is a great talent and a very important player for us."

Having made changes after the midweek Europa League trip to Besiktas, Pochettino said: "We needed to manage our players after the game in midweek. If you make changes and you win, you are an unbelievable manager, but if I had changed things and we had lost, it wouldn't have been like that."

Swansea manager Garry Monk lamented his team's lack of a killer punch in front of goal.

"It was sickening. I couldn't see that coming to be honest, but two individual errors have cost us. And, of course, we were not clinical enough at the other end.

"We created enough chances to score a number of goals. I was pleased with the way we regained momentum after their first goal and to be honest, after we scored it was one-way traffic. If it was a boxing match, they would have called it off.

"It was certainly more a case of us losing it, than Spurs winning it. It's hard to take that we have come away with nothing. They had a couple of counter-attacks but they were hanging on at times. When it's like that, you have to kill off sides. We didn't and it came back to haunt us again.

United 'forcing luck' - Van Gaal

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal felt that his side's 3-0 Premier League victory over Liverpool proved that his methods are beginning to take effect at Old Trafford.

Sunday's win, secured by goals from Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata and Robin van Persie, was United's sixth in a row and galvanised their grip on third place in the table, but there were rough edges to the hosts' display.

Liverpool created a host of chances, with David de Gea earning the man-of-the-match award for a series of spectacular saves, while Mata's goal should have been ruled out for offside.

It had been a similar story last Monday when United won 2-1 at Southampton despite registering only three attempts at goal.

But Van Gaal believes that United are now a different team to the one that slithered to a seventh-place finish last season following their travails under his hapless predecessor, David Moyes.

Asked for the secret to United's current form, the decorated Dutch coach told his post-match press conference: "Because we have a way of playing that always takes into account the qualities of the opponent.

"I have a staff that always are looking for the way we can do pain to the opponent. And we found this today (Sunday) again.

"It's not for nothing that we scored the way we have scored today. You need luck, but you can force the luck, and we are forcing the luck now. That was not the case at the start."

Rooney, who played in midfield, set United on their way in the 12th minute by sweeping home a cut-back from Antonio Valencia.

Mata headed home five minutes before halftime – a goal described with some justification by Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers as "clearly offside" – and then teed up Van Persie for United's third in the 71st minute.

An injury to Marcos Rojo obliged Van Gaal to deploy midfielder Michael Carrick as one of three centre-backs in a defensive set-up that mirrored Liverpool's.

The visitors regularly found a way in behind United's defence, with De Gea thwarting Raheem Sterling and substitute Mario Balotelli three times each, but Van Gaal felt his players adapted well to the enforced changes.

"Only yesterday (Saturday), Rojo in a training session got injured and then I have to change my line-up again, which I have to do every week," he said.

"But the most important thing is my philosophy and when you stick by your philosophy, every player can do that because every player has played already in that philosophy."

Defeat completed a miserable few days for Liverpool, who were knocked out of the Champions League by Basle last Tuesday and now trail United by 10 points.

Rodgers admitted that his squad had lost some of the team spirit that saw them come within a whisker of pipping Manchester City to the title last season.

"For me, the whole scenario is about looking to build a team again," said the Northern Irishman, who lost Luis Suarez to Barcelona in the close season and is currently without striker Daniel Sturridge due to injury.

"We had a team that was growing for a couple of years that has changed now, the squad and injuries and what-not.

"But we're having to recapture the team ethos again and that's something we're looking to build towards."

Rodgers sprang a surprise by dropping goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, whose form has come under scrutiny, and he confirmed that Australian Brad Jones would remain in goal for Wednesday's League Cup quarterfinal at Bournemouth.

"Simon has been fine. He's a really good professional. I spoke to him the other day and he accepted it," said Rodgers.

"I said to Simon it was for an indefinite period. He has played in a lot of games, Simon, and Brad in my first year came in and did very well.

"It is something that can happen to keepers, taking them out of the firing line and giving them time to reflect.

Alves sidelined by hamstring strain

Barcelona fullback Dani Alves is unavailable for Tuesday's King's Cup last-32, second leg match at home to third-tier Huesca after picking up a hamstring strain in Saturday's 0-0 La Liga draw at Getafe.

Brazil international Alves is also a doubt for Barca's La Liga match at home to Cordoba on Saturday, their final outing before the two-week winter break, Barca said on their website (www.fcbarcelona.es) on Sunday.

Luis Enrique's side should have little trouble securing their place in the last 16 of the Cup as they lead 4-0 from the first leg at Huesca. They would play Elche or Real Valladolid for a place in the quarterfinals.

Barca's stumble at Getafe meant they lost ground on leaders Real Madrid and are four points behind their arch rivals in second after 15 matches.

Celtic extend lead with St Mirren win

Celtic extended their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to six points with a comfortable 4-1 victory over St Mirren on Sunday.

Four of the goals came in a frantic opening 20 minutes with Kenny McLean passing up a chance for St Mirren before Scott Brown got Celtic's opener in the fourth minute.

Sean Kelly levelled matters in the 10th minute before James Forrest had Celtic in front again and Brown's second of the match gave the hosts some breathing space.

Celtic spurned a number of chances to add to the advantage before Anthony Stokes slammed home a fourth in the 67th minute.

The win is Celtic's eighth in a row in the league as they showed no hangover from their midweek Europa League defeat and leaves managerless St Mirren firmly rooted to the foot of the table.

Celtic manager Ronny Deila was satisfied with his side's performance.

"We kept possession, we created chances and we scored four goals and moved the ball very quick," Deila said.

"It was a good win, an important win, and we're now six points ahead and I'm very satisfied with that."

St Mirren interim manager Gary Teale took positives from defeat.

"I don't think we have come here and created as many chances as that, certainly in my time at St Mirren," the Buddies player-coach said.

"However, the goals that we concede are far too easy and I need to change the mentality of that as it can't continue."

Forrest was one of four changes for Celtic and he nearly gifted St Mirren an opener in the first minute. The winger cheaply gave away possession to John McGinn whose cross was perfect for McLean, but he completely fluffed his shot from just inside the box.

St Mirren's positive start came unstuck a cross from Stokes was diverted into Brown's path by a St Mirren defender and the captain rifled home a shot from the edge of the penalty area.

The Buddies responded perfectly and had the ball in the net in the eighth minute when McLean converted McGinn's pass but the St Mirren man's joy soon faded when he realised he had been flagged for offside.

The visitors weren't to be denied two minutes later when Kelly grabbed an equaliser. Marc McAusland sent a header across the face of the Celtic goal and Kelly pounced to send his shot in off the post.

St Mirren weren't level for long as Forrest restored Celtic's advantage in the 15th minute. Guidetti showed great skill to control a cross before slipping a reverse pass into Forrest's path for the winger to slam an angled shot beyond Marc Ridgers.

Forrest turned provider three minutes later as he cut the ball back to Brown for the midfielder to sidefoot home his second of the match.

Stokes thought he had added a fourth for Celtic in the 51st minute when he stuck out a foot to divert Johansen's shot into the net but the striker had strayed offside.

The Irish striker was then close with a curling free-kick from 20 yards before he turned provider for Johansen only for Ridgers to get down low to block the Norwegian's effort.

Stefan Scepovic replaced the injured John Guidetti on the hour mark and almost made an instant impact with his first touch a dipping volley from 30 yards that had Ridgers scrambling to stop on the line.

The impressive Stokes finally got his name on the scoresheet when he exchanged passes with Johansen before sending a shot beyond Ridgers.