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Writer's pictureLee Clow

One Hand On The Title


“The title is ours boys!” Liverpool celebrate as they stun defending champions Manchester City 3-1 at Anfield.

Image Credit: Sky Sports


By Lee Clow 10 November 2019 | Premier League


Liverpool held out for a 3-1 victory over Champions Manchester City as they extended their lead at the top of the table to eight points.


In what was a clash of titans between the European Champions and the English Champions, it was Liverpool who came out on top after goals from Fabinho, Mohammed Salah and Sadio Mane stunned Manchester City at Anfield. The visitors did score a goal through Benardo Silva late on, but the game was already gone giving the Reds a huge advantage in the race for the title.


The crowd inside Anfield were lifted into joy only six minutes in when Fabinho produced a moment of magic. The Brazilian midfielder found space before setting himself for a thunderous strike from 30 yards, leaving City back up goalkeeper Claudio Bravo with no chance.


Moments later, huge controversy arose as City thought they should have had a penalty before the goal. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s arm was struck in the area after Silva’s effort was blocked but no decision was given. VAR reviewed the incident, but nothing was changed, and the goal stood bringing another huge roar by the Anfield faithful.

On the touchline, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was very animated clearly furious with the decision given.


Guardiola’s frustration was further deepened when Salah made it two for Liverpool on 13 minutes. A lovely switch from Alexander-Arnold found Andrew Robertson in space allowing the Scotsman to deliver another beautiful cross to Salah who placed his header brilliantly past Bravo in goal. The second goal was met by the Liverpool fans in full voice as they watched their team steam roll into a two-goal lead against the champions.


Being the team they are, Manchester City were not scared of the two goal deficit as they searched for a goal to get them back into the game. Sergio Aguero had a great chance to half the score line when he cleverly nutmegged Fabinho and unleased a powerful effort towards goal. The Argentines shot curled towards the corner of the goal, but Allison was there smartly to parry his effort away.


Not long afterwards, City were in again with Angelino after some good link up play by Kevin De Bruyne. The Spanish full back raced through the Liverpool defence before firing onto the post via a deflection off Virgil Van Dijk. This block was crucial and let Liverpool off the hook with City still two goals down.


Liverpool managed to hold onto their two-goal advantage until half time as the visitors failed to capitalise on their chances.


After the break, Liverpool’s dangerous attacking threat returned, and it immediately hurt City. On the right-hand side, captain Jordan Henderson nicely skipped past two defenders before producing a wonderful cross on the by-line for Sadio Mane to head home at the far post for Liverpool’s third. From this moment the game looked over with Liverpool in a commanding lead and City in despair as their title defence took a huge dent.


The visitors did manage to pull a goal back late on as Liverpool became complacent. Angelino’s drilled ball in trickled its way to Barnardo Silva who fired first time into the back of the net via the post to give City some hope of a comeback.


On their next attack, City again appealed for a penalty when Raheem Sterling’s cross hit Alexander-Arnold’s hand, but the referee waved away the claims leaving Guardiola in even more rage as he was in the first half.


In the final few stages, City continued to pin back Liverpool, but they could not find their killer instinct with both Kyle Walker and Gabriel Jesus firing over from close range. Jurgen Klopp’s’ men managed to see the game out and strengthen their position at the top of the table.


The victory for Liverpool extends their lead at the top of the Premier League table to eight points, nine points ahead of champions City who now lay in fourth.


After the game, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp spoke to the media and stated how important it was for his side to stay mature in their race for the title: "Maturity is very important but for the rest of the season, it depends who is available and who is fit. I have no idea if I've ever had a nine-point lead, it has never been nine points over City, especially after a game against them so it is completely new.”


"Each point we have now, we need to go through the most intense period ever for us. You see how Chelsea and Leicester are performing, if we lose today, it is then about five points? After the start we had, five points is nothing. We have to play them again and we don't care about the table or whatever, we just try to do the right things in the specific games and if we can do that, then we are good but we need the boys for that and we have to hope they stay fit."


Pep Guardiola, who was furious on the touchline, remained calm in his press conference and brushed over all the incidents that made him so heated during the game. "What happened today we showed why we are champions, I am so proud of my team, more than ever. We can be proud of how we played against the strongest team in Europe.”


"Ask to the referees, don't ask me. Ask to Mike Riley and the guys in VAR. I would like to talk about our performance, it was so good. It was one of the best performances we have played. We played like back-to-back champions. We cannot deny how good Liverpool are but the way we played, the personality, it was good."


What’s next?


Liverpool and Manchester City resume their domestic campaigns after the international break. Liverpool travel to Selhurst Park to face Palace on November 23 while City host Chelsea on the November 22 at 5:30pm.

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