Liverpool loses and Southampton's relegation is sealed before a deadlocked Manchester derby

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Liverpool had a shock defeat on its march to the Premier League title — losing 3-2 at Fulham on Sunday.

At the other end of the standings, Southampton became the first team to be relegated from England’s top flight this season after a 3-1 loss to Tottenham.

Manchester United and Manchester City played out a dismal 0-0 draw at Old Trafford.

Liverpool’s loss meant it missed the chance to move 14 points clear of second-place Arsenal and a step closer to a record-equaling 20th English league title. A stunning first half from Fulham at Craven Cottage resulting in Arne Slot’s Liverpool lineup lose for only the second time in the league this season.

“A very poor first half in terms of the goals we conceded. It was so unnecessary and then you’re fighting a very tough battle,” Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk said. “We tried everything in the second half but when you ship three goals in the first half it’s very difficult.”

Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Everton on Saturday had given Liverpool an unexpected boost in the race for the title, but despite going ahead through Alexis Mac Allister’s goal in the 14th minute, the visitors were 3-1 down at halftime.

Ryan Sessegnon, Alex Iwobi and Rodrigo Muniz all found the back of the net in a thrilling 14-minute spell. Luis Diaz got Liverpool’s second after the break.

Liverpool remains 11 points ahead of Arsenal and on course to win the title with seven games remaining.

Manchester was once considered the capital of English soccer. Not anymore.

A miserable Manchester derby ended goalless at Old Trafford in a game that lacked intensity and entertainment.

“It’s a Manchester derby and it should have more blood, thunder, and risk, and courage involved in playing the game and trying to win the game than that,” Sky Sports commentator and former United captain Gary Neville said.

In a game of few clear chances, City's Omar Marmoush and United's Joshua Zirkzee went closest to scoring.

“I understand that ... we are doing the worst season in (United's) history. Manchester City won everything in the past, (but) this season is struggling. We are not in the best moments to give the best spectacle to every fan,” United head coach Ruben Amorim said. “When we are not fighting for the big things, of course it’s different.”

A troubled campaign for both the red and blue halves of the city is drawing to a close and there's now the very real prospect of no Manchester representation in the Champions League next season for the first time since 1995-96.

United’s only realistic hope of qualifying is by winning the Europa League, having advanced to the quarterfinals.

City, which won European club soccer’s biggest prize in 2023, is facing a struggle to secure its place.

The top four in the league qualify automatically and England is in prime position to be handed a bonus fifth place for next year’s competition.

City is currently fifth — one point ahead of Aston Villa in sixth. Newcastle is seventh — two points behind City with two games in hand. It would move up to fifth with a win against Leicester on Monday.

“I’m not concerned about next season right now, I’m just concerned about recovery," City manager Pep Guardiola said, and the next games against "Crystal Palace, Everton, Aston Villa and FA Cup semifinals.”

Guardiola said United fans who chanted abuse about Phil Foden’s mother during the derby should be ashamed.

Offensive chants were directed at the City forward, which Guardiola condemned.

“(It was) a lack of class, but it’s not Man United, it’s the people,” he said afterward. “It’s lack of integrity, class and they should be ashamed."

United fans staged their latest protest against the club’s ownership with a pre-arranged sit-in after the match.

Dissatisfied supporters staged a march ahead of the game against Arsenal last month, with thousands joining in.

The latest protest appeared less impactful. One banner called for the removal of American owners the Glazer family.

With just 10 points from 31 games, last-place Southampton’s fate was sealed with defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Its relegation is the fourth-earliest in the Premier League era, according to the league’s statistician Opta.

Derby’s drop on March 29 in 2008 is still the earliest relegation since the league began in 1992. Huddersfield and Fulham had earlier relegations than Southampton, which is now joint with Leicester in 2002.

According to Opta, Southampton is the first Premier League team to be relegated with seven or more games to play.

“We're disappointed. It has to be a big school for everything – for us, for me, for the players, for the club – to see what we did wrong,” Southampton manager Ivan Juric said.

Two first-half goals from Brennan Johnson put Southampton on course for a 25th league defeat of the season. Mateus Fernandes pulled one back late on for the visitors before Mathys Tel struck a third for Spurs from the penalty spot in added time.

Chelsea remains fourth after a 0-0 draw at Brentford.

James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne runs during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Manchester United in Manchester, England, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola, left, and Manchester United's head coach Ruben Amorim shake hands after the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Manchester United in Manchester, England, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola leaves the pitch after the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Manchester United in Manchester, England, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Brentford manager Thomas Frank claps at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Brentford and Chelsea, at the Gtech Community Stadium, in London, Sunday April 6, 2025. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)

Brentford's Christian Norgaard, left and Chelsea's Jadon Sancho vie for the ball, during the English Premier League soccer match between Brentford and Chelsea, at the Gtech Community Stadium, in London, Sunday April 6, 2025. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)

Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne leaves the pitch after the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Manchester United in Manchester, England, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Mancheter United fans hold banners as they protest against the clunb's owners after the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Manchester United in Manchester, England, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Mancheter United fans hold banners as they protest against the clunb's owners after the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Manchester United in Manchester, England, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Manchester City's Matheus Nunes, left, and Manchester United's Patrick Dorgu, right, battle for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Manchester United in Manchester, England, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)

Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne runs during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Manchester United in Manchester, England, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola talks to Jack Grealish during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Manchester United in Manchester, England, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola hugs Phil Foden as he is substituted during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Manchester United in Manchester, England, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Manchester United's Manuel Ugarte, left, and Manchester City's Jeremy Doku fight for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Manchester United in Manchester, England, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Southampton's Cameron Archer, right and Tottenham Hotspur's Ben Davies vie for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, in London, Sunday April 6, 2025. (Bradley Collyer/PA via AP)

Southampton goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, background left and Jan Bednarek foreground react after Tottenham Hotspur's Brennan Johnson, right, scored his side's second goal of the game as he celebrates with teammate James Maddison, during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, in London, Sunday April 6, 2025. (Bradley Collyer/PA via AP)

Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister reacts disappointed after the English Premier League soccer match between Fulham and Liverpool, at Craven Cottage, London, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Liverpool's Darwin Nunez, centre, Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk, right, react during the English Premier League soccer match between Fulham and Liverpool, at Craven Cottage, London, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Fulham's Rodrigo Muniz celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Fulham and Liverpool, at Craven Cottage, London, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Fulham's Rodrigo Muniz, right, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Fulham and Liverpool, at Craven Cottage, London, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Southampton's Tyler Dibling, right and Tottenham Hotspur's Rodrigo Bentancur vie for the ball, during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, in London, Sunday April 6, 2025. (Bradley Collyer/PA via AP)

The U.S. Supreme Court will not delay Karen Read’s second murder trial on claims of double jeopardy, setting the stage for opening statements to be presented next week.

Read’s attorneys had filed an emergency appeal for a delay in the trial, contending that trying her again on second-degree murder and leaving the scene would be double jeopardy. But the high court's denial means the trial could start early next week, since all but one of the jurors have been chosen. Jury selection began last week. Lawyers are seeking to seat 16 jurors, with four serving as alternates.

Read, who lives in Mansfield, Massachusetts, is accused of striking her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, with her SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm in 2022 outside a house party in nearby Canton. Her attorneys have said O’Keefe was actually killed by someone else, possibly another law enforcement agent who was at the party, and that she was framed.

Last year, the judge declared a mistrial after jurors said they were at an impasse and deliberating further would be futile.

After the trial, several jurors came forward to say the group was unanimous in finding Read not guilty of the most serious charge, second-degree murder, and a lesser charge. Despite attempts by Read’s lawyers to get those charges dismissed, she will face the same counts as she did at her first trial. They also failed to have the entire case tossed, arguing governmental misconduct.

Read, who worked as a financial analyst and as a Bentley College adjunct professor before she was charged, faces second-degree murder and other charges in the death of John O’Keefe, who was 46 when he died. The 16-year police veteran was found unresponsive outside the home of a fellow Boston police officer.

After a night out drinking, prosecutors say Read, who is 45, dropped off O’Keefe at the house party just after midnight. As she made a three-point turn, prosecutors say, she struck O’Keefe before driving away. She returned hours later to find him in a snowbank.

As they did at the first trial, prosecutors will try to convince jurors that Read’s actions were intentional. They are expected to call witnesses who will describe how the couple's relationship had begun to sour before O'Keefe's death. Among them will be his brother, who testified during the first trial that the couple regularly argued over such matters as what Read fed O’Keefe’s children, and that he witnessed a 2021 fight the couple had in Cape Cod over how his brother treated her. The brother's wife testified that Read told her the couple had argued in Aruba after she caught O’Keefe kissing another woman.

The defense is expected to portray the investigation into O’Keefe’s death as shoddy and undermined by the close relationship investigators had with the police officers and other law enforcement agents who were at the house party.

Among the key witnesses they will call is former State Trooper Michael Proctor, who led the investigation but has since been fired after a disciplinary board found he sent sexist and crude texts about Read to his family and colleagues. He is also on the prosecution's witness list.

A key moment in the first trial was Proctor’s testimony, in which the defense suggested his texts about Read and the case showed he was biased, and had singled her out early in the investigation and ignored other potential suspects.

They also are expected to suggest Read was framed, saying O’Keefe was actually killed inside the home during a fight with another partygoer and then dragged outside. In the first trial, defense attorneys suggested investigators focused on Read because she was a “convenient outsider” who saved them from having to consider law enforcement officers as suspects.

Ahead of the second trial, the two sides sparred over whether Read's lawyers will be allowed to argue that someone else killed O'Keefe. Judge Beverly Cannone ruled Monday that attorneys can't mention potential third-party culprits in their opening statements but will be allowed to develop evidence against Brian Albert, a retired police officer who owned the Canton home, and his friend Brian Higgins. Lawyers cannot implicate Albert's nephew, Colin Albert, the judge said.

A town-commissioned Canton Police Department audit following O'Keefe's death was released Sunday. While not reinvestigating any cases, its top suggestions regarding Read's were that first responders should have photographed O'Keefe where he was found before he was moved; that all interviews of “critical witnesses” should have been done at the department after O'Keefe was taken to a hospital; and that agreed-to recordings of witness interviews be conducted.

Soon after the mistrial, Read's lawyers set out to get the main charges dropped.

They argued Judge Cannone declared a mistrial without polling the jurors to confirm their conclusions. Defense attorney Martin Weinberg said five jurors indicated after the trial that they were only deadlocked on the manslaughter count and had unanimously agreed that she wasn’t guilty of second-degree murder and leaving the scene, but that they hadn’t told the judge.

The defense said that because jurors had agreed Read wasn't guilty of murder and leaving the scene, retrying her on those counts would amount to double jeopardy. But Cannone rejected that argument, as did the state's highest court, a federal court judge, and an appeals court.

Prosecutors had urged Cannone to dismiss the double jeopardy claim, saying it amounted to "hearsay, conjecture and legally inappropriate reliance as to the substance of jury deliberations.” Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally argued that the jurors never indicated they had reached a verdict on any of the charges, were given clear instructions on how to reach a verdict, and that the defense had ample opportunity to object to the mistrial declaration.

The second trial will likely look similar to the first. It will be held in the same courthouse before the same judge, and dozens of Read's passionate supporters are again expected to rally outside. The charges, primary defense lawyers and many of the nearly 200 witnesses will also be the same.

The biggest difference will be the lead prosecutor, Hank Brennan. A former prosecutor and defense attorney who was brought in as a special prosecutor after the mistrial, Brennan has represented several prominent clients, including notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, and experts think he might be more forceful than Lally was in arguing the case.

Supporters of Karen Read gather prior to jury selection for the trial of Karen Read outside Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Supporters of Karen Read gather prior to jury selection for the trial of Karen Read outside Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A Massachusetts State Police officer talks with supporters of Karen Read, who gathered prior to jury selection for the trial of Karen Read, outside Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Supporters of Karen Read gather prior to jury selection for the trial of Karen Read outside Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Aidan Kearney, the blogger known as Turtleboy, walks towards court prior to jury selection for the trial of Karen Read outside Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Supporters of Karen Read gather prior to jury selection for the trial of Karen Read outside Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Prosecution attorney Adam Lally, right, arrives for jury selection for the trial of Karen Read at Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Prosecution attorney Hank Brennan arrives for jury selection for the trial of Karen Read at Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Karen Read arrives for jury selection for her trial at Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Karen Read arrives for jury selection for her trial at Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Karen Read arrives for jury selection for her trial at Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Karen Read arrives for jury selection for her trial at Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Supporters of Karen Read gather during jury selection for the trial of Read outside Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Karen Read arrives for jury selection for her trial at Norfolk County Superior Court, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)