Liverpool Started The Weekend By Climbing Back To The Top Of The Premier League As Mo And Sadio Go Head To Head In The Golden Boot Race. Match Highlights. Player Ratings. Manager Comments, And Stats.
By: Marc Gingell
Match Details
26-04-2019 | Anfield | Liverpool | 5-0 | Huddersfield |
KO:20:00 | ATT: 53,249 | Naby Keita 1′ | ||
REF: K Friend | Sadio Mané 23′, 66′ | |||
Mo Salah 45+1′, 83′ | ||||
Premier League Golden Boot Race!
With two apiece in this game Mo Salah and Sadio Mané now head the Premier League Golden Boot race. Salah has 21 and Mané 20. Behind them, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Sergio Agüero are on 19.
Twenty-seven year old Mané, from Sedhiou, Senegal, is flying with 12 Premier League in his last 14 games. During the same period, Salah has 6. Based on current form Mané could well overtake his teammate.
Liverpool Had To Win Well
Liverpool, who are relying on City to slip up somewhere, had to win this one well to try and claw back the goal difference margin that City has. City beat Huddersfield 6-1 in their 2nd game of the season which means Liverpool have equalled that margin.
How The Goals Went In
- 1-0. 1st Minute: Naby Keita. This one came after only 15 seconds when Huddersfield’s’ defender Jon Gorenc Stankovic played a terrible pass straight to Salah. Salah fed Keita who finished first time from the edge on of the box. Goal number 100 for Liverpool in all competitions this season.
- 2-0. 23rd Minute: Sadio Mané. Virgil van Dijk found Andrew Robertson in space on Liverpool’s left and he delivered a perfect cross for Mané to head home from eight yards.
- 3-0. 45+ 1st Minute: Mo Salah. This time Liverpool’s other full back, Trent Alexander-Arnold, played a perfectly weighted ball to the edge of Huddersfield box and Salah nipped to lob the advancing Jonas Lössl.
- 4-0. 66th Minute: Sadio Mané. From Liverpool’s right, Jordan Henderson clipped a cross in where Mané headed home form seven yards at the back post.
- 5-0. 83rd Minute: Mo Salah. Robertson found himself in space on Liverpool’s left and crossed low into Huddersfield’s corridor of uncertainty where Salah tapped in from five yards.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
After more than a year out with a serious injury Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain came on in the 73rd minute and he nearly marked his return with a goal after being put through by Salah. Daniel Sturridge, in for the injured Roberto Firmino from the start, had a goal ruled out for offside and Mané hit the post with another header.
Salah now has 69 goals for Liverpool in 100 appearances in all competitions. More in 100 than any other Liverpool player in their history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgiDP0grpHs
Player Ratings
Liverpool: Alisson(8), Alexander-Arnold (8), Lovren (7), Van Dijk (8), Robertson (9), Henderson (7), Wijnaldum (6), Keita (8), Salah (9), Sturridge (6), Mane (9)
Subs used: Oxlade-Chamerlain (7), Shaqiri (6), Gomez (N/A)
Huddersfield: Lossl (3), Smith (4), Schindler (4), Kongolo (4), Durm (5), Stankovic (3), Hogg (4), Bacuna (5), Mbenza (4), Mounie (5), Grant (4)
Subs used: Lowe (5), Pritchard (5), Kachunga (N/A)
Man of the match: Andy Robertson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFMzoVLWxro
Opta Stats
- Liverpool have accrued 91 points in the Premier League this season, their second-highest ever total in a single league season (converting to three for a win) in their history, behind only 98 points in 1978-79, which was a 42-game season.
- Liverpool have won 10 consecutive matches in all competitions, their best winning run since May 2006 when they won 11 on the bounce.
- Huddersfield have now lost 28 Premier League matches this season – they have never lost more league matches in a single Football League campaign in the club’s history (also 28 in 1987-88 in the second tier).
- Liverpool are now unbeaten in 19 matches across all competitions (W14 D5), their longest such streak since a run of 20 without defeat between December 1995 and March 1996.
- This victory means Liverpool will end today top of the Premier League – it is the 29th time that the lead has changed hands at the end of a day this season, the outright post-war top-flight record, overtaking 28 times in 2001-02.
- Huddersfield have now failed to score in each of their last nine meetings with Liverpool in all competitions; this is Liverpool’s joint-second longest run of clean sheets against an opponent in their history, behind only a 10-match streak against West Brom in August 2010 (also nine v Everton in April 1976).
- Liverpool have now earned 50 points at Anfield this season, their best ever tally at home in a Premier League season (previously 49 in 2013-14), with this the first top-flight season they have reached 50 points at home since 1987-88 (also 50).
- Mohamed Salah has become only the third Liverpool player to score 20+ Premier League goals in consecutive seasons for the club, after Robbie Fowler (1994-95 and 1995-96) and Luis Suarez (2012-13 and 2013-14).