WILLIAN scored twice as leader Chelsea overcame Stoke 4-2 to equal an English Premier League (EPL) record for 13 straight wins in a single season.

    At Anfield, with Jurgen Klopp and City boss Pep Guardiola meeting for the first time in the Premier League, the clash of managerial heavyweights was a tense affair.

    But it was Klopp’s team that delivered the knockout blow when Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum headed home from Adam Lallana’s cross in the eighth minute to seal Liverpool’s fourth successive win.

    Manchester United came perilously close to seeing its own winning streak end, only for late goals by Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba secured a 2-1 home win over Middlesbrough.

    It was sixth-place United’s fifth straight league win and took the side to within a point of fourth-place Arsenal.

    At Stamford Bridge, Bruno Martins Indi and Peter Crouch struck for Stoke to cancel out goals by Gary Cahill and Willian. But Willian struck for a second time moments after Crouch’s 64th-minute equalizer and Diego Costa netted a fourth.

    “After the second goal it wasn’t easy to go and have the good reaction, to show the great character, above all after 12 wins in a row,” Chelsea manager Antonio Conte said.

    “When you win a lot, there is a great danger to be satisfied, to be relaxed, to think, ‘OK, but we won a lot in the past, now if arrive the draw, if we don’t lose, if we don’t win, it’s not important.’ No.

    “My players showed me great will, great will to fight, great will to win, great will to take this great achievement for us. I’m pleased for them and they deserved this. I’m their coach, but they deserved this.”

    Chelsea is six points clear of Liverpool, which beat Manchester City 1-0.

    Arsenal was the last team to win 13 matches in a row in a solitary campaign in 2002. The Gunners extended that landmark to 14 the following season and Chelsea can match that streak at Tottenham on Wednesday.

    “Now it’s not easy after 13 wins in a row you face teams that want to beat you, not only to take three points but for many reasons,” Conte said. “It’s more difficult. We must know this. (But) when you have these type of players you can go to sleep happy.”

    (SD-Agencies)