Eleven heaven!
Liverpool lead in double figures after Van Dijk brace City denied by Shelvey’s 88th-minute screamer
Before December was even upon us, Liverpool opened an astonishing 11-point gap yesterday at the top of the Premier League after clinging on to record their eighth single-goal victory in 14 matches this season with a hardfought 2-1 win over Brighton.
They had their former player Jonjo Shelvey to thank as his 88th-minute screamer against defending champions Manchester City earned Newcastle a 2-2 draw at St James’ Park, leaving Jurgen Klopp’s team in the driving seat as they seek their first title since 1990.
In the past 10 years, only one side have come from behind in the title race at this stage to win the Premier League, and that was City in 2013-14, after they trailed Arsenal by six points.
Liverpool were ahead thanks to two first-half goals from Virgil van Dijk but there was late drama at Anfield as home goalkeeper Alisson was dismissed for handling outside his area. Lewis Dunk scored from the resulting free-kick against replacement Adrian to set up a tense finale.
Klopp, whose side have dropped just two points since the start of March, said: “The boys threw everything on the pitch. It’s unbelievable how much they want to win.”
Leicester could cut the lead to eight points today when they face Everton.
Adrian will keep his place as Alisson serves a one-match suspension in Wednesday’s Merseyside derby with struggling Everton at Anfield.
Alisson Becker’s late rush of blood, and the red card that followed, made Liverpool’s latest step towards a first league title in 30 years far more dramatic and difficult than it should have been.
But that is a measure of the manner in which Jurgen Klopp’s side, 11 points clear at the top but still not daring to believe a league crown is within sight, appear set to conduct what is potentially their most memorable domestic campaign for more than a generation.
Coasting, relatively, thanks to a pair of superb first-half set-piece headers from Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool’s Brazilian keeper raced unnecessarily from his area after 76 minutes and handled Leandro Trossard’s attempted lob.
Replacement Adrian took his place and was instantly picking the ball out of his net as Lewis Dunk took advantage of a disorganised wall and unprepared keeper and simply rolled the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
Cue minor panic for the remainder of the match, especially when Aaron Mooy’s superb long-range strike forced Adrian into a fine diving block and, more so, when the keeper fumbled Pascal Gross’s meek header and almost allowed it over his line.
“We brought on a frozen goalkeeper,” Klopp said. “Everybody sitting here is probably not warm yet, so imagine you go there in shorts, and really thin shirt and gloves that are not for keeping you warm!
“Then some people let the free-kick happen like that, like a little bit sleepy. But we kept fighting – Adrian especially helped us with two really good saves, the crosses he caught, but with cold feet he couldn’t kick the ball as far as he wanted.
“It kept it interesting, but in the end it was an important win. It was just more complicated because of the red card and the changes we had to make.”
Adrian’s presence for the one-match suspension that Alisson will serve might ordinarily be a cause for concern but, as Klopp was quick to point out at the end of a victory which leaves his side on 40 points from the first 14 games of the campaign, this is a side who take adversity in their stride.
The Brighton goal left Liverpool without a clean sheet in 12 matches – their worst such run for 21 years – and means that the only team they have beaten by more than a solitary goal since mid-September is Manchester City. No bad scalp.
But those statistics are mere anomalies when contrasted with the one thing that matters – the points column.
“I’m really happy and proud at the desire the boys showed,” Klopp said. “The red card made it a special win. We don’t think about the 11-point gap. Leicester play tomorrow, so it could be eight. We’ve won 13 games, but none of those 13 games were easy. We don’t fool ourselves that we’re favourites in certain games. What we really expect is we fight for the result and this result was incredibly hard, for sure. But we don’t want to think about the last 14 games, we want to think about the next one, against Everton on Wednesday.”
That late drama was enough to warm up supporters – if not Liverpool’s reserve keeper – although the contest should have been settled even by the time Alisson erred, with Van Dijk, so often an unmovable object at the back for his side, an irresistible force in attack during the first half.
The Dutch centre-half may lose the competition with Lionel Messi for the Ballon d’Or in Paris tomorrow, but his value to Liverpool’s title bid was underlined in that half as Liverpool looked to capitalise on Manchester City’s slip at Newcastle earlier in the day.
Van Dijk struck twice in the space of six minutes, starting when a foul by Gross on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain won a free-kick on the corner of the area. Trent Alexander-Arnold floated over a perfect centre and, having beaten Adam Webster, Van Dijk headed an unstoppable finish past Mat Ryan.
The next goal, after 24 minutes, again came from an Alexander-Arnold delivery, his left-hand corner kick allowing Van Dijk to take a running jump above Dunk and head into the net.
Ryan had already made key saves to keep his side in contention, three from Roberto Firmino and another from Sadio Mane.
But, in between, there were moments of concern for the hosts as Davy Propper was denied by Alisson and Dunk missed the target from 12 yards. And when Brighton threatened early in the second half, with Dunk glancing a header wide and Aaron Connolly shooting too close to Alisson, there was just a hint that this might not be the most straightforward of afternoons.
“There was a lot of quality to our play,” Graham Potter, the Brighton manager, said. “You could sense that Anfield had to get behind their team, so a big credit to our players for that.”