: Diego Costa’s missed second-half penalty cost Premier League leader Chelsea a victory at Liverpool on Tuesday but a 1-1 draw did little damage to its title prospects as closest rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur dropped points.
Spain striker Costa was denied by Liverpool keeper Simon Mignolet, who made amends for being caught off guard by a superb David Luiz free kick midway through the first half.
Georginio Wijnaldum’s close-range header levelled the scores in the 57th minute as Liverpool avoided a fourth consecutive home defeat in all competitions, although Juergen Klopp’s side remains 10 points adrift in fourth place.
Arsenal, which began the day second, must recover quickly from a shock 2-1 home loss to Watford which managed a first league win in eight games and celebrated its first top-flight victory over the Gunners since 1988.
Watford scored twice inside the first 13 minutes through Younes Kaboul and Troy Deeney and hung on for the victory after Alex Iwobi pulled one back near the hour mark.
Arsenal is nine points behind Chelsea along with Tottenham Hotspur which moved above its north London rival on goal difference after a lacklustre 0-0 draw at basement club Sunderland. Spurs also lost defender Danny Rose to injury.
Champion Leicester City’s relegation worries is becoming acute after Claudio Ranieri’s side went down 1-0 at Burnley for whom Sam Vokes grabbed a late winner.
Leicester’s third consecutive league defeat left it two points off the relegation zone in 16th place with the battle for survival hotting up after wins for Swansea City and Crystal Palace and Sunderland’s battling point at home to Spurs.
The results: Arsenal 1 (Iwobi 59) lost to Watford 2 (Kaboul 10, Deeney 13); Bournemouth 0 lost to Crystal Palace 2 (Dann 46, Benteke 90+2); Burnley 1 (Vokes 86) bt Leicester 0; Liverpool 1 (Wijnaldum 57) drew with Chelsea 1 (Luiz 25); Middlesbrough 1 (Negredo 17-pen) drew with West Brom 1 (Morrison 6).
Sunderland 0 drew with Tottenham 0; Swansea 2 (Mawson 38, Sigurdsson 70) bt Southampton 1 (Long 57).
