Liverpool Crush Watford – Braces for Sadio Mané and Virgil van Dijk As Anfield Goals Flow
By Marc Gingell
27th February 2019
| KO:20:00 | Anfield | Liverpool | 5 | Watford | 0 |
| REF: G Scott | Sadio Mané 9′, 20′ | ||||
| ATT: 53,316 | Divock Origi 66′ | ||||
| Virgil van Dijk 79′, 82′ | |||||
Liverpool Bridge Gap
Liverpool started the day one point in front of rivals for the Premier League title Manchester City. They finished it with the same gap but have made inroads to close City’s goal difference advantage. The ten goal gap is now six and what’s pleasing, as well as slightly worrying for Liverpool, is that top scorer Mo Salah didn’t get on the scoresheet. But Salah never goes two Premier League games without scoring so watch out Everton on Sunday.
Sadio Mané Start Rout
Mané started the scoring in the 9th minute when he rose unchallenged, just outside Watford’s six-yard box, to head home Trent Alexander-Arnold’s whipped in cross from the right. Eleven minutes later Mané found himself in space again to score with one of the cleverest backheels Anfield might have ever witnessed.
Georginio Wijnaldum found Mané in the box with yards of space but his first touch let him down. It left him with his back to goal, on the penalty spot, but still space. As Watford keeper Ben Foster, began his charge to close Mané down, Mané managed to backheel the ball up, over Foster, and into the empty net. A fantastic piece of skill.
Virgil van Dijk Ends Rout
Divock Origi, in for the injured Roberto Firmino, scored number three on 66 minutes. As he cut in from the left he appeared to be going nowhere but he managed to arc his body and fire past Foster’s despairing right hand. On 79 minutes van Dijk began his brace collection as he headed in Alexander-Arnold’s free kick from just inside the six-yard box. Three minutes later he met Andrew Robertson’s cross with another close-range header.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj08_eeMH8I
Player ratings
Liverpool: Alisson (7), Robertson (8), Matip (7), Van Dijk (9), Alexander-Arnold (9), Fabinho (8), Wijnaldum (7), Milner (7), Salah (7), Mane (9), Origi (7)
Subs: Henderson (5), Lallana (5), Keita (5)
Watford: Foster (4), Janmaat (4), Mariappa (4), Cathcart (4), Masina (4), Capoue (4), Hughes (4), Doucoure (5), Pereyra (4), Deulofeu (5), Deeney (4)
Subs: Cleverley (5), Gray (6), Sema (5)
Man of the match: Sadio Mane
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