With a spectacular goal by Alexis Mac Allister, Liverpool defeated bottom-place Sheffield United 3-1 at Anfield to reclaim the top spot in the Premier League.
With eight games remaining, the Reds are presently two points ahead of Arsenal and three points behind the reigning champions, Manchester City. However, while both title rivals had easy victories on Wednesday, Liverpool suffered a great deal the next day.
After Ivo Grbic’s strike against Darwin Nunez had given Jurgen Klopp’s team the lead just before halftime, they appeared to be in second gear at the beginning of the second half. For them, it had all looked too simple.
Sheffield United took advantage of Liverpool’s lack of effort after James McAtee had squandered a fantastic opportunity to score after 32 seconds. McAtee made up for his mistake by crossing the ball for Gustavo Hamer, forcing Conor Bradley into an own goal.
Anfield was taken aback. Mohamed Salah became enthralled. With every ticking second that passed, the tension and dread increased.
However, Liverpool scored a goal in the last fifteen minutes of a Premier League match for the twenty-fifth time this season. What an aim that was, too. Joy and relief erupted as Mac Allister unleashed a scorcher into the upper corner. crucial point in the race for the crown.
Shortly after, he struck the crossbar with a free kick, but Liverpool crossed the finish line when Cody Gakpo headed in a third goal—his 26th of the season—after Andy Robertson, who is back to full strength, crossed the line.
Chris Wilder, the manager of the Blades, will have been hurt by the outcome and lament those two major mistakes made by his team in the first half. With eight games remaining, they are 10 points from safety, but despite the odds being against them, this served as a reminder that there are still surprises in store in the race for the Premier League title.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp: “We scored one of my favourite goals ever for 1-0. A striker from time to time needs that kind of thing. I ask [Nunez] quite a lot to press the opponent and it’s pretty rare you get close enough to get this kind of block.
“We controlled the game but there are different ways to control again and today was not the right one. Not enough creating. I don’t expect we have chance after chance after chance but you have to accelerate, speed up, underlap and overlap, and that’s what we did [after 60 minutes].
“The game was a difficult one to get rhythm but we should have had a better rhythm than we had. In the end, all good. Probably all the other games are now different, especially the next one.”
Sheff Utd boss Chris Wilder: “The press conference before, the interviews before the game you could sense we were [seen as] just here to make the numbers up. The narrative was this would be a pretty comfortable evening for Liverpool.
“We knew we’d have to give up the ball and be structured and organised and they’d have opportunities. But you have to suffer, which we did, take the game deep and ride your luck a bit and that becomes the night you get something from the game. Unfortunately, the finish from Mac Allister is a fabulous, world-class finish. Then in the end you change your shape, trying to chase it and they get three.
“As a manager you’re looking for, what is my team about. And I’ve liked it over the last three games.”
Liverpool will play their first game back on Super Sunday against Manchester United.
In Premier League action on Sunday, Sheffield United will host Chelsea.
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