Football
How Liverpool showed they’re title contenders
Having seen Manchester City defeated Everton at the Etihad Stadium last night, Liverpool were under huge pressure heading into yesterday’s clash with Manchester United.
Jurgen Klopp’s men were aware that anything short of victory would automatically push them down to the second position on the Premier League standings, hence, there was intense pressure on the home team.
Liverpool scored first
Despite the pressure to impress in front of the home fans, the Reds took the lead as Sadio Mane found the back of De Gea’s net.
The Senegalese striker benefited from Fabinho’s defence-splitting pass before hitting the ball with much power.
Manchester United equalize
After conceding the first goal of the game, Manchester United were made to labour hard for an equalizer just as they’ve been doing in recent weeks.
Luckily for Mourinho’s men, Alisson Becker made an uncharacteristic error in the 33rd minute to give Jesse Lingard the opportunity to restore parity for the away side.
The former Roma goaltender failed to grabbed Romelu Lukaku’s cross as the ball went through his hands to Jesse Lingard who made no mistake to put the ball past the Reds’ goal line.
The first period of the encounter ended 1-1 as no team were able to score another goal after Lingard’s lucky goal.
Magical Shaqiri made the difference
The second half started just like the first. The Merseyside club dominated their opponents but couldn’t find a cutting-edge at the final third of the field.
Mane, Salah, Wijnaldum, Lovren and Van Dijk all aimed at goal at some point in the game but under-fire David De Gea was up to the task.
With 20 minutes left on the clock, Klopp replaced tired Naby Keita with Xherdan Shaqiri and it paid off.
The former Stoke City man wasted no time before influencing the game. He was on for just five minutes before scoring his first goal of the night.
The Red Devils tried all they could to record another comeback but they failed to accomplish their mission.
Instead, it was the Anfield outfits who scored another goal to make it 3-1 which ultimately put the game off United’s reach.
Klopp’s men are proving they are real title contenders after their awesome display against their arch-rivals. They remain the only team yet to lose maximum points in all the games played in the League so far.
Klopp’s men are back to the summit of the table, one point ahead of City and they are looking great and tough as the season progress.
Mourinho men lie in the 6th position, 11 points behind Chelsea, who are in the fourth position after 17 League games
