In the derby of the round in the English Premier League, Liverpool defeated Chelsea and recorded a win in one very important game which will no doubt have a huge impact on the final order in the standings.
Jurgen Klopp’s boys shocked Chelsea in only two minutes, and knocked out the great rival. It was 2-0 in the end for the hosts.
Many of Liverpool’s fans were a bit scared of this match because their team hasn’t beat Chelsea at Anfield since 2012, and for most of them, one of the worst memories in their life was the game five years ago, which blew away Reds’ chances to win the title.
Back then, Steven Gerrard slipped, and… well the rest is history, and because of those who still feel pain about it, we aren’t going to go further.
This new generation of Liverpool’s players don’t have any burden of the past on their back, and they were mainly focused on three points which are of massive importance for their current title race.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=31hMmcyLmlk
“What happened five years ago didn’t matter today. It was a totally different game, totally different circumstances, and we are very happy with the three points,” Virgil Van Dijk, the cornerstone of Liverpool’s defense explained after the match.
Hosts broke Chelsea’s resistance in the second half, when they beat Kepa twice in just two minutes. Sadio Mane drew the first blood, after a fantastic play between Mo Salah and Jordan Henderson. The English player then made a nice cross to the far post where Mane waited and didn’t have any problems to score.
Two minutes after that, Mohamed Salah scored a fantastic goal, without doubts the best one this weekend. One of the best players in the world received the ball on the right wing, then made one of his characteristic runs, parallel with the box, and launched a vicious strike which went to the far upper corner of Chelsea’s goal.
After the match, the Egyptian revealed how he scored this one.
“Normally I shoot with the inside of my foot. But this one I decided, because it was far, to hit it with power.”
When one of the reporters asked him, is he satisfied with his performances this season, Salah answered positive, but that all that matters to him now is the title, and that everything else is simply not irrelevant.
“For me, I ignore everything, the Premier League is the most important thing.”
The race for the title in the Premiership is heating up, and Liverpool still has to wait for City’s mistake. Right now the Reds have 85 points, Sky-Blues 83, and a game in hand.
Jurgen Klopp stated that his team isn’t going to listen to what happens with Manchester City, but needs to focus on its own performances.
“The first question in the meeting today was ‘what is the City score?’ You cannot avoid knowing about it. But it isn’t interesting to us.”
Earlier today, Citizens beat Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, and kept the gap between the two title contenders. They now have two big challenges against Tottenham, one in the Champions League and the other in Premiership next weekend.
Liverpool also has international challenges coming up this week. They are playing with Porto in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. The first leg at Anfield ended with their routine win, 2-0, but knowing Dragao and the atmosphere there, Klopp has to prepare his team in the best way he can.
The additional motive for the hosts will be last year’s humiliation when Reds demolished the Portuguese powerhouse with 5-0.
After that, they meet with Cardiff. The objectives are the same in these two, and every other event until the end of the season, A win, nothing else than that.
Nikola Velickovic is a sports journalist who loves to write and read on all sports. Nikola contributes both news updates and functions as a sports breaking news writer at WagerBop.
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