Goals from Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah saw Liverpool beat bitter rivals Manchester United 2-0 at Anfield on Sunday evening and go sixteen points clear at the top of the Premier League table. The Red Devils had been the only side to take points off Jurgen Klopp’s men in the first half of the season, but were unable to repeat their feat as they slumped to a 2-0 defeat.
Liverpool went into the game knowing that rivals Man City and Leicester had both faltered over the weekend- the former drawing against Crystal Palace and the latter suffering a shock defeat away at Burnley, but were deserving winners here as they took another important step towards the title.
Klopp chose to keep faith with the same XI that had done the business against Spurs, meaning another start for the midfield troika of Gini Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Joel Matip returned to the match day squad after a lengthy spell on the sidelines, but had to do with a spot on the bench as Van Dijk and Joe Gomez continued their centre back partnership.
With Ashley Young having left for Italy, United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer effectively chose to start with a back three of Luke Shaw, Victor Lindelof and new captain Harry Maguire, and Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Brandon Williams as wingbacks. Marcus Rashford’s back injury meant Anthony Martial and Daniel James played upfront, with Andreas Pereira behind them.
Liverpool started off cautiously but drew first blood in the 14th minute. Van Dijk outmuscled both Williams and Maguire to nod in Trent-Alexander Arnold’s pin-point corner. It was an important goal, and scored aptly by a player who has contributed so much to the club’s revival in fortunes.
The goal brought the Reds to life and United were camped on the backfoot for most of the first half. Roberto Firmino and Wijnaldum both scored, only for VAR and the offside flag respectively to rescue United, and Sadio Mane made a mess of a chance he would otherwise have put away.
Liverpool were imperious and had eight corners at the end of the first half to United’s nil. There was a clear gulf in quality between the two sides, and a look at the GG.bet sports section reveals that many think the Reds could perhaps even complete a historic double this year.
United however just about managed to hang in there and fashioned their best chance of the evening just before the hour mark. A nice one two between Martial and Andreas found the former in acres of space, but the French international blazed over from close range.
The Red Devils had a corner in second half stoppage time. De Gea wanted to go up, but was told not to by the technical staff. It was however to no avail- Alisson’s long ball to Salah saw United exposed on the counter, and the Egyptian produced a fine finish to crush United’s hopes.
This is Liverpool’s seventh consecutive clean sheet, and next on their radar are Wolves at Molineux. The quartet of January fixtures- the Merseyside derby, Spurs, United and Wolves away were expected to be tough ones for Jurgen Klopp’s side, but they’ve already won three of them, and without breaking too much sweat.
Liverpool 2-0 Man Utd (Virgil van Dijk 14, Mo Salah 90+3’)