With their victory over Sheffield United, who were in last position, Liverpool broke a Premier League record and moved up to the top of the standings, passing Arsenal.
When United goalkeeper Ivo Grbic struck Darwin Nunez on an attempted clearing and saw the ball rebound into the net, the title-chasing Reds were given a first-half lead.
After the break, a header from Gustavo Hamer for Sheffield United equalized against the run of play after it deflected off Conor Bradley and slipped past Caoimhin Kelleher of Liverpool.
But, Cody Gakpo’s late header and Alexis Mac Allister’s 20-yard bomb gave the hosts their 21st league victory of the year, guaranteeing the three points.
With eight games remaining, the victory at Anfield puts Jurgen Klopp’s team back atop the Premier League, two points clear of Arsenal and three ahead of Manchester City.
Liverpool’s 83.1% possession rate versus Sheffield United was the highest in a Premier League match since Opta started keeping track of this data, demonstrating how dominant they were.
As the last two months of his lengthy and prosperous leadership at Liverpool approached, Klopp was obviously happy with the result and called MacAllister’s goal “absolutely insane.”
“That’s normal, but we had to dig very deep,” he remarked. “We had a positive attitude, even though the football wasn’t perfect all the time.”
After twenty seconds, they could have scored, but Caoimhin Kellher makes a fantastic stop. For ninety minutes, Sheffield United played the way they wanted to. Although it is challenging, we could and did perform better to win.
“Alexis is a really good player; we knew we could move him slightly higher even though he was playing six in the first half.”
Then he scores goals like this; he’s responsible for the season’s two biggest screamers. The free kick that came right after that was incredible; what a player.
After a humiliating 4-3 loss to Chelsea this evening, Manchester United will face the Premier League leaders again on Sunday as they attempt to win the championship.
On Saturday, Man City will visit Crystal Palace, while Arsenal will go to Brighton, both of Liverpool’s title challengers will be in action.
“We cannot change that; I am happy that we play on Sunday,” Klopp continued. “I fail to see the issue.”
“Tonight’s game had nothing to do with yesterday’s, and Sunday’s game will have nothing to do with the other outcomes.”