3 Dec 2014

Liverpool and United win

2:46 pm on 3 December 2014

Steven Gerrard's future at Liverpool may be in doubt but he turned back the clock to score in a 3-1 victory at struggling Leicester City in the English Premier League.

Manchester United maintained their recent improvement with a fourth successive league win, beating Stoke City 2-1 at Old Trafford with a Marouane Fellaini header and Juan Mata free kick either side of a Steven Nzonzi goal for Stoke.

United stay fourth but have 25 points, eight behind leaders Chelsea who host Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday, while Liverpool have climbed to eighth place with 20 points.

Liverpool's Steven Gerrard

Liverpool's Steven Gerrard Photo: Photosport

West Ham are fifth after beating West Brom 2-1.

Queens Park Rangers crashed to a seventh successive away league defeat and slipped to one off the bottom when they were beaten 2-nil at Swansea City.

Burnley climbed out of the relegation zone with a 1-1 draw at home to mid-table Newcastle United.

Aston Villa won 1-0 at Crystal Palace.

Those results did not affect the top of the table, with Manchester City and Southampton, as well as pacesetters Chelsea, all playing on Thursday.

Gerrard was left out of the starting lineup at the weekend, but the 34-year-old started at Leicester and rifled home a poor clearance to turn the balance of the match Liverpool's way in the 54th minute.

The visitors had fallen behind when keeper Simon Mignolet conceded an own goal after 22 minutes before a 26th-minute Adam Lallana equaliser for Liverpool.

Leicester were reduced to 10 men when captain Wes Morgan was sent off for a foul on Rickie Lambert after 63 minutes and they conceded a third when Jordan Henderson scored after 83 minutes.