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LONDON. — Liverpool and Manchester City’s shoot-out for the English Premier League soccer title intensified on Saturday with comfortable wins over Southampton and Cardiff, while Manchester United were held 1-1 by Wolves on the day Sir Alex Ferguson returned to Old Trafford.

Jurgen Klopp could afford the luxury of handing Xherdan Shaqiri his first Liverpool start for a 3-0 victory at Anfield and Wesley Hoedt turned the Swiss international’s deflected shot in for the opener before Joel Matip and Mohamed Salah’s first goal in four games sealed Liverpool’s seventh straight win in all competitions.

City edged ahead of Chelsea, who travelled to West Ham yesterday, into second, two points behind the leaders, as they bounced back from a shock Champions League defeat against Lyon in midweek by thrashing Cardiff 5-0 in the Welsh capital.

United, though, are now eight points off the top as a run of three straight wins to avert an early-season crisis came to an end against an impressive Wolves while Ferguson watched on for the first time since undergoing emergency surgery on a brain haemorrhage in May. — AFP.