LIVERPOOL maintained their place at the top of the Premiership but their shaky home form must be giving manager Roy Evans cause for concern.
Stan Collymore made sure they secured at least a point when he cancelled out the opener from Steve Claridge with 15 minutes to go.
But Liverpool have now picked up only nine points from a possible 18 at Anfield and that is hardly championship form.
PAOLO DI CANIO last night breathed new life into the title chase with a late winner to give Celtic a 2-1 victory over Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
Rangers’ 4-0 win against Raith earlier in the day had put added pressure on Tommy Burns’ men putting a staggering 17 points between the two sides and making a Celtic victory imperative.
And for much of the game it looked as though Celtic’s season was drawing to a premature close as Billy Dodds’ early goal put third place Aberdeen in the driving seat before former AC Milan ace Di Canio’s intervention.
MANCHESTER UNITED flashed a warning that their title push is moving into overdrive as they demolished bottom club Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
Alex Ferguson’s side made it nine goals in two games, and they are now unbeaten in seven Premiership matches.
David Beckham scored the opening goal and made two others while Ryan Giggs reaped havoc – and he will seldom have been given so much space in a game, particularly in the first half when Forest’s three-man rearguard was cruelly exposed.
Nicky Butt made it 2-0 before half-time and Ole Solskjaer wrapped up the points with a third in the 67th minute.
WHEN it seems all else is falling in the relegation zone, and Cliftonville are knee deep in it, towering Cliftonville striker Paul Stokes is keeping his cool.
Two goals from the big Dubliner at Castlereagh Park yesterday gave Cliftonville and manager Marty Quinn the perfect St Stephen’s Day gift, three Premier Division points, closing the gap on Ards to just one point at the foot of the table.
GLENTORAN skipper John Devine thought he’d given his team a belated Christmas present at a rain-drenched Windsor Park.
The big central defender threw his arms in the air after his 76 minute header crashed off the Linfield crossbar and behind Blues’ keeper David Collins. Devine was sure the ball had crossed the line but referee George Keightley was unimpressed as the ‘Big Two’ derby finished 0-0.
ASTON VILLA keeper Mark Bosnich last night held up his hands to take partial responsibility for the end of his side’s five-game winning run but refused to shoulder the full blame.
The Australian had kept below-par Villa in the game with super stops to foil first Eddie Newton and then Gianfranco Zola either side of the break.
But in the 66th minute Bosnich was wrong-footed when Zola’s left-footer took a deflection off Ugo Ehiogu to bounce off his foot and into the net.
Four minutes later he made a fearful hash of a Fernando Nelson back-pass to present Zola with his fourth in four games and gift-wrap the Christmas points.
NEWCASTLE’S title challenge lost more ground as they were beaten 1-0 on Alan Shearer’s return to Ewood Park.
The £15million striker was upstaged by Blackburn counterpart Kevin Gallacher, who scored the only goal of the game following a scramble in the Newcastle penalty area. Kevin Keegan’s side have now won only once in eight games.
