LONDON (AP) Liverpool beat Sunderland 2-0 to keep alive its faint hopes of catching Manchester United at the top of the English Premier League on Tuesday.
While the second-half goals by David Ngog and Yossi Benayoun weren't enough to regain second place from Chelsea, which won 1-0 at Portsmouth, Liverpool closed to within four points of the leader with its first league win in three matches.
Liverpool has 58 points from 28 games and trails Chelsea only by goal difference. Defending champion United, which won the League Cup on Sunday for its second title of the season, has played two games fewer than the trailing pair and was set to play the first of those matches at Newcastle on Wednesday.