Liverpool piled more pressure on Chelsea and Manchester City’s run in as they cut the gap at the top to four points with a game in hand. Manchester City still have two games in hand over Liverpool but the points are on the board and a City without Kompany and Aguero could wobble and make this title race even more exciting than the Manchester Derby last day race of a few years ago. Imagine a four way tussle on the last day? It would be pretty epic although many supporters could suffer from cardiac issues on the day.
Liverpool went into the game at Old Trafford knowing that they’d lost their last six games in a row at Old Trafford since their 4-1 win in 2008/09. Liverpool also had the added pressure that they needed to pick up the three points after Chelsea’s loss to Aston Villa.
It didn’t seem like Liverpool had any of these pressures on them, a testament to the job Rodgers is doing. It was like a machine had rolled up and continued to press the Manchester United team from minute one. Manchester United never really looked in the game and their only shot on target was in the first half from Rooney which Mignolet saved. Apart from that they really didn’t cause Liverpool any damage even though they attempted 11 shots inside the Liverpool box and Liverpool only managed 6. So there’s something clearly wrong there.
Liverpool on the other hand pressed well, pushed United and forced them to make mistakes. It had been over 3 years since a penalty had been given at Old Trafford so for Liverpool to then get awarded three is a crazy statistic. There could have been more penalties in the game, for either side, but Mark Clattenburg deemed that three was enough!
Steven Gerrard was the star of the show on the ball – winning possession twelve times for his side whilst off the ball Henderson and Allen worked extremely hard. Gerrard also scored two excellent penalties (and missed out on making history as the first player in Premier League history to score a hat trick of penalties in the game) under pressure and commanded the midfield. Gerrard has really grown into the role he has and he looks especially comfortable when he has two willing workhorses around him so Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson pairing forms the ideal midfield team for him.
Luis Suarez then rubbed the salt in the wounds with the third goal and it could have been more had David De Gea not pulled off a world class save from the Uruguayan earlier in the game. Liverpool thoroughly deserved the win once the final whistle was blown.
The less you say about the home side the better. Manchester United suffered their worst nightmare with a humiliating loss to their hated-enemy at home and really allowed Liverpool to get closer to Chelsea in the title race. Manchester United have to pick themselves up and aim to progress in the Champions League as it’s the only competition they can go further in which would keep their season alive.
The in-depth stats of the game are below, please do credit EPLIndex.com if you use these else where. As you can see.
