Liverpool heads into Christmas with a four-point lead, a game in hand and as the overwhelming title favorite in the Premier League on the back of a wild 6-3 win at Tottenham on Sunday.
As for Manchester United and its new manager Ruben Amorim, they stumble into the festive period in 13th place — as low as they’ve been at Christmas since the 1989-90 season — and with a familiar sinking feeling.
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Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Liverpool players get together just before the start of the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Tottenham's head coach Ange Postecoglou reacts after Liverpool's Mohamed Salah scored his side's fifth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Liverpool's Luis Diaz, second right, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's sixth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's fourth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Wolverhampton Wanderers' Goncalo Guedes celebrates scoring his side's first goal of the game with teammates, during the English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers at King Power Stadium, in Leicester, England, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)
Everton's Ashley Young, left, and Chelsea's Axel Disasi battle for the ball during the English Premier League match soccer match between Everton and Chelsea, at Goodison Park, Liverpool, England, Sunday Dec. 22, 2024. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and Chelsea's Nicolas Jackson (right) battle for the ball during the English Premier League match soccer match between Everton and Chelsea, at Goodison Park, Liverpool, England, Sunday Dec. 22, 2024. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Manchester United's head coach Ruben Amorim claps his hands before the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Bournemouth at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Manchester United's Tyrell Malacia argues with line referee Akil Howson after a foul on Bournemouth's Adam Smith during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Bournemouth at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Bournemouth's Dean Huijsen celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Bournemouth at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Manchester United's Alejandro Garnacho is dejected after missing an opportunity to score during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Bournemouth at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
United lost 3-0 at home to Bournemouth for the second straight season, the latest statistic to show just how far this English giant has fallen and the job Amorim has to turn around its fortunes.
Worse for United, it seems like great rival Liverpool cannot be stopped.
Make that 21 games in all competitions without defeat after the Reds' biggest league win of the season, with Mohamed Salah netting two of the goals to move above Manchester City's Erling Haaland to the top of the scoring charts.
Liverpool has 39 points from 16 games and stretched its lead over second-place Chelsea, which could only draw 0-0 at Everton, to end a five-match winning streak in the league.
Salah now has 15 goals in the Premier League to break a tie with Haaland — and will leave London thinking he should have had more.
In an end-to-end contest resembling a basketball match, Liverpool scored more than five goals for the first time this season, with Luis Diaz (two), Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai also netting.
“You can see quality players with top discipline,” Tottenham captain Son Heung-min said. “There’s a reason they are top. If you give them a mistake, they punish you.”
Tottenham's injury-hit defense was open at the back but its attack caused Liverpool's problems throughout, with James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke all finding the net.
Spurs are another big team in the bottom half, having slipped to 11th place.
The optimism that might have been generated by a last-gasp 2-1 derby win at Manchester City last weekend has disappeared for United, which lost 4-3 at Tottenham in the English League Cup quarterfinals on Thursday before being handed a defeat to Bournemouth by the same score as 12 months ago.
“We were a bit nervous, I felt it in the stadium,” said Amorim, who has won four and lost four in all competitions since starting his United tenure with a draw at Ipswich on Nov. 24.
Dean Huijsen, Justin Kluivert — from the penalty spot — and Antoine Semenyo scored for Bournemouth, which climbed to fifth place in the standings and has now beaten Man City, Arsenal, Tottenham and United this season. Indeed, City has dropped to seventh place, an unthinkable unravelling for the winner of the last four Premier League titles.
United left out Marcus Rashford for the third straight match.
At one point during Amorim's post-match press conference, water appeared to drip slowly from a ceiling light fitting on reporters sat in the front row of the Old Trafford media room.
After all the money spent on players — $1.3 billion and counting — and the huge turnover of managers, Chelsea's American ownership could have seen the club atop the Premier League with a win at Everton — for a couple of hours at least.
However, a 0-0 draw ended Chelsea's eight-match winning run in all competitions and gave Liverpool the opportunity to push four points clear.
Nicolas Jackson headed against the post in the first half for Chelsea, while Everton had the clearer chances in the second half.
Everton also held Arsenal 0-0 last weekend.
“Sometimes you have to play a different game and we are learning to play a different game,” Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said. “They (Everton) are one of the best teams in Europe in terms of clean sheets.”
Vitor Pereira got off to a great start as Wolverhampton manager, with his new team beating Leicester 3-0 in his first match in charge.
Pereira took charge on Thursday as the replacement for Gary O'Neil and immediately ended Wolves' four-game losing run as Gonçalo Guedes, Rodrigo Gomes and Matheus Cunha scored first-half goals at King Power Stadium.
Wolves stayed in the relegation zone but moved two points behind Leicester, which is a place above the bottom three, and Pereira said: “I believe that we will stay in the Premier League and we will play at a better level than we saw today."
It handed Leicester manager Ruud van Nistelrooy a second straight big loss early in his reign, after a 4-0 defeat at Newcastle last weekend.
Another recently hired Premier League manager, Ivan Juric, began life at Southampton with a 0-0 draw at Fulham.
Juric wasn't in charge of the team because he doesn't have a work permit. He was sitting in the stands for the match instead.
Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Liverpool players get together just before the start of the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Tottenham's head coach Ange Postecoglou reacts after Liverpool's Mohamed Salah scored his side's fifth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Liverpool's Luis Diaz, second right, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's sixth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's fourth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Wolverhampton Wanderers' Goncalo Guedes celebrates scoring his side's first goal of the game with teammates, during the English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers at King Power Stadium, in Leicester, England, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)
Everton's Ashley Young, left, and Chelsea's Axel Disasi battle for the ball during the English Premier League match soccer match between Everton and Chelsea, at Goodison Park, Liverpool, England, Sunday Dec. 22, 2024. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and Chelsea's Nicolas Jackson (right) battle for the ball during the English Premier League match soccer match between Everton and Chelsea, at Goodison Park, Liverpool, England, Sunday Dec. 22, 2024. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Manchester United's head coach Ruben Amorim claps his hands before the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Bournemouth at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Manchester United's Tyrell Malacia argues with line referee Akil Howson after a foul on Bournemouth's Adam Smith during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Bournemouth at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Bournemouth's Dean Huijsen celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Bournemouth at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Manchester United's Alejandro Garnacho is dejected after missing an opportunity to score during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Bournemouth at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
HONOLULU (AP) — Stephan Jaeger had nine birdies for the lowest round this week at Waialae, and two of the most important holes for him Saturday in the Sony Open were pars.
Jaeger knows dropping a shot is losing ground, and the way the Sony Open is playing out, no one can afford to do that at a tournament that is wide open going into the final round.
J.J. Spaun twice responded to bogeys with birdies in the closing stretch at Waialae, the last one a pitch-and-putt on the par-5 18th that gave him a 5-under 65 and a one-shot lead over Jaeger, Eric Cole (67) and Patrick Fishburn (68).
Jaeger had a 62 that included a birdie putt from just under 60 week on No. 8, his 17th hole. But he thought back to the bunker shot on the par-3 fourth to 2 feet to save par, and another bunker shot on the par-3 seventh and a 6-foot par save.
“I had just made two birdies the previous holes, and I hit it in the bunker, and I hit the bunker shot close so I didn’t really have to grind very hard,” Jaeger said. “But to make par there kind of kept the momentum going, and I birdied a couple holes after that.”
Spaun was at 13-under 197, and there were 14 players within three shots of his lead.
That's usually the case at the Sony Open. This old-school course with its doglegs and deep bunkers and unpredictable Bermuda rough has a way of staying bunched until the very end.
Jaeger is best known for his Houston Open win over Scottie Scheffler during Scheffler's most dominant part of a dominant year. He was six shots behind going into the third round. He also had 40 players between him and the two players atop the leaderboard.
“You're in limbo at that point,” Jaeger said. “You're either going to have a great round and have a chance or ... to shoot a great round and be in contention is nice.”
Fishburn, in his Sony debut as a second-year player out of Utah, was the only player to reach 14 under with his birdie on the par-5 ninth to go out in 31 and create some separation. But he made only one birdie the rest of the way, blasting a drive 360 yards with the wind at his back and hitting a flip wedge that rolled over the cup. He also made three bogeys, and he failed to birdie the par 5 closing hole.
Fishburn dropping a few shots brought many back into the tournament.
Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley birdied his last two holes for a 64 and was in the group two shots behind that included Nick Taylor of Canada (65), former British Open champion Brian Harman (66) and Nico Echavarria of Chile, the Zozo Championship winner in Japan last fall who played bogey-free in the wind for a 66.
“As soon as we made the turn there, the conditions got quite a bit harder,” Fishburn said. “A lot of the wind was hard off the left with pins on the left, so it was a tricky setup.”
The group three shots behind included Lucas Glover and Gary Woodland, who returned from brain surgery at the Sony Open a year ago and took until later in the year before he got his brain functioning the right way through breathing and meditation exercises.
Woodland, who had a second straight 66, has played at Waialae enough to know it's usually bunched — Justin Thomas was the exception in 2017 when he set the PGA Tour's scoring record at 253 — and that a winner can come out of nowhere.
“If you can get hot, you can make a run,” Woodland said. “It wouldn't shock me if someone came from behind and posted a number. Everything is trending in the right direction. A couple of guys posted a good number. Hopefully, that's me tomorrow.”
Jaeger stood out with the low round of the tournament. He made a pair of 20-foot birdies on the front nine — he started on No. 10 — and got a big boost with a birdie from just under 60 feet on the eighth hole. He finished with a wedge to 4 feet for birdie on the par-5 ninth.
Spaun effectively starts from the pole position Sunday with a lot of cars revved up behind him.
“I’ve felt pretty calm and relaxed out there. It’s been a fun week here in Hawaii,” he said. “It’s always laid back and easygoing. I’ve been carrying that mindset on the course, and it’s easy to feel that way when things are going your way and you’re playing well. Just try to hone in on that tomorrow and see what happens.”
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Hideki Matsuyama reacts to hitting a birdie putt on the third green during the third round of the Sony Open golf tournament, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Lucas Glover hits a tee shot on the second hole during the third round of the Sony Open golf tournament, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Gary Woodland lines up his shot on the ninth hole during the second round of the Sony Open golf event, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Lee Hodges hits a fairway shot on the 17th hole during the third round of the Sony Open golf tournament, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Lee Hodges chips on the 16th fairway during the third round of the Sony Open golf tournament, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Paul Peterson hits a shot on the 17th hole during the third round of the Sony Open golf tournament, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Patrick Fishburn chips onto the 18th green during the third round of the Sony Open golf tournament, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Denny McCarthy hits out of bunker on the 17th hole during the third round of the Sony Open golf tournament, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Matt York)
J.J. Spaun hits on the second tee during the third round of the Sony Open golf tournament, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Matt York)
J.J. Spaun chips onto the 16th green during the third round of the Sony Open golf tournament, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Matt York)