Wijnaldum Header Beats City

Sports - Football - Premier League - LFC 1:0 MCFC

Liverpool recorded their fourth consecutive league win, beating Manchester City 1-0 at Anfield, a rare clean sheet which keeps them in second place, six points behind league leaders Chelsea.

It was a rare defensive and more conservative display by the Reds, creating just five shots and holding less possession (43%), very unlike Jürgen Klopp and his usual attacking football mentality.

The only shot on target for the hosts came just eight minutes into the game, man of the match Georginio Wijnaldum heading in off Adam Lallana's cross, and it ended up being the winner.

It took Liverpool's annual total of league goals to 87, their most in a calendar year since 1985.

It was an intense affair, but lacked true quality making it less competitive, more edgy and frustrating.

The Sky Blues looked laboured throughout, but didn't give keeper Simon Mignolet much to do, the Reds happy to stay back and even wasting time at the end.

Big man Sergio Agüero had returned after serving his four-match ban, but was left starving for service and deserted.

Usually dangerous and productive Kevin de Bruyne was also made redundant, pushed aside by the hosts' intense pressing.

David Silva and Yaya Touré tried but failed to call the shots and create any real threats from the middle as well.

This defeat doubled Pep Guardiola's total of losses he suffered in the entire 2015-16 Bundesliga campaign with Bayern Munich (2) and opened up a ten-point gap to the top spot.

Klopp meanwhile made it 5-4 taking the lead in the head-to-head between the two top managers, dismissing any criticism of his side's defence.

It was the fourth consecutive league win for Liverpool against Manchester City for the first time since 1981.

Both sides have less than 48 hours rest, the Reds having to travel to Sunderland, whilst City head back home to host Burnley, both afternoon 3pm kick-offs.

Liverpool Goals: Wijnaldum 8'.

Liverpool Team: 22 Mignolet; 2 Clyne, 6 Lovren, 17 Klavan (booked 7'), 7 Milner; 14 Henderson (c) (27 Origi 64'), 5 Wijnaldum, 23 Can (booked 75'); 11 Firmino, 19 Mané (21 Lucas 89'), 20 Lallana. 4-3-3
Subs not used: 1 Karius, 15 Sturridge, 18 Moreno, 53 Ejaria, 66 Alex-Arnold.

Manchester City Team: 1 Bravo; 24 Stones, 5 Zabaleta (c) (15 Navas 86'), 30 Otamendi (booked 93'), 11 Kolarov; 17 De Bruyne, 21 Silva; 25 Fernandinho, 7 Sterling, 32 Yaya Touré (72 Iheanacho 89'); 10 Agüero. 4-2-3-1
Subs not used: 3 Sagna, 6 Fernando, 13 Caballero, 22 Clichy, 75 Garcia Serrano.

Match Stats: Liverpool-Man City
Possession: 43%-57%
Attempts: 5-9
On target: 1-2
Corners: 4-6
Fouls: 12-12
Bookings: 2-1

Referee: Craig Pawson
Ground: Anfield
Attendance: 53,120

Pictures and stats taken from BBC match report.

Click here for my previous LFC match report.

Premier League Picks Of The Week 12

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 12

The 12th week of Premier League action saw:

205 shots - most by Hull City = 17

24 goals - most by West Brom = 4

226 fouls - most by Leicester = 18

44 bookings - most by Everton = 5

2 red cards - Djilobodji for Sunderland, Reid for West Ham

5 penalties - 4 scored (Sigurdsson for Swansea, Mahrez for Leicester, Kane for Spurs, Lanzini for West Ham), 1 missed (Krkic for Stoke)

What a game! The London derby was a juicy one, it had everything in it. The Hammers were 2-1 up thanks to Michail Antonio's first-half header and Manuel Lanzini's penalty and looked on course for only their fourth league win of the season. But Harry Kane had a different idea and turned the game on its head with two late strikes, first from close range off a nice buildup by substitute Son Heung-Min, second from the spot after the South Korean was brought down in the box by Havard Nordtveit. The perfect comeback saw Spurs extend their unbeaten run to 12 games, the last time they managed that in 1960-61, the North Londoners won the league and cup double!

What a team! Antonio Conte's master 3-4-3 stroke prevailed again, serving the Blues their sixth win on the trot, beating Middlesbrough 0-1 at the Riverside Stadium. Diego Costa's strong drill and 10th goal of the season decided a quite even contest, disappointing for Boro, rewarding for Roman Abramovich's side as they move top of the table, one point ahead of Liverpool after their less inspiring goalless draw at Southampton. Tony Pulis' West Brom impressed smashing Burnley 4-0 and David Moyes' Sunderland are starting a run with their second successive win beating a dire Hull City 3-0.

What a man! Yaya Touré marked his shock return for Man City with two decisive goals, grabbing a dramatic late win for the Blues at Crystal Palace. The Ivory Coast midfielder made his first Premier League appearance for Pep Guardiola's side after a long-ongoing dispute with his agent, combining well with Nolito to fire City ahead at the end of the first half. Palace were level thanks to substitute Connor Wickham's smash second half equaliser. But Touré spoilt the show for the home side, heading home a late winner off Kevin De Bruyne's corner from close range, moving City up to third in the table, level on points with Liverpool. And Jermain Defoe deserves a shoutout after netting his 150th Premier League goal in the Black Cats' comfortable 3-0 home win against the Tigers.

What a goal! You were not allowed to blink at Vicarage Road! It took Etienne Capoue only 33 seconds to give Watford the lead against falling champions Leicester, their fastest Premier League goal. Roberto Pereyra curled in a second before the Foxes pulled one back from the spot. The champions weren't able to turn it around, the 2-1 result making them only the third reigning champions, after Leeds in 1992 and Blackburn in 1995, to start the Premier League season without a win from their opening six away games.

What the hell?! Arsenal's late equaliser at Old Trafford was their first goal against José Mourinho in nearly a decade (since May 2007 to be exact)! Arsène Wenger's smirky grin sealed the Red Devil's misery, who were especially frustrated after being denied a spot kick by referee Andre Marriner when Nacho Monreal's arm crossed and brought down Antonio Valencia on the edge of the box. However, Mourinho's protests were over-the-top and cannot cover up the fact that this match was nowhere near as mouthwateringly bombastic, top quality nor title-decisive as it has been in the past, United rusting in 6th on 19 points and the Gunners losing pace to the top in 4th on 25 points, the gap growing to five points between the top five and the rest.

My Predictions - Actual Results
Man United 1:1 Arsenal - 1:1
Crystal Palace 1:2 Man City - 1:2
Everton 2:1 Swansea - 1:1
Southampton 2:3 Liverpool - 0:0
Stoke City 1:1 Bournemouth - 0:1
Sunderland 2:3 Hull City - 3:0
Watford 1:2 Leicester - 2:1
Tottenham 4:2 West Ham - 3:2
Middlesbrough 0-4 Chelsea - 0:1
West Brom 0:0 Burnley - 4:0

Click here to read last week's Premier League Picks

Pictures taken from the BBC match reports 

Tevez steals the show & point for City at Anfield

Sports - Football - Premier League - Liverpool 2:2 Manchester City

Carlos Tevez spoilt the show at Anfield with his 100th goal in the English game. The Argentine took advantage of Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel's mistake, a poor backpass, when he netted Manchester City's second of the day to make it all sqare, 2-2.

Liverpool were defiant and intent to perform and come back strong after their dire 3-0 defeat at West Brom last weekend and the Reds did so from the start.

Having lost Lucas Leiva early on in the match due to injury (5.), substitute Jonjo Shelvey and youngster Raheem Sterling impressed with their resilience and stubbornness throughout the match.

New signing Joe Allen showed some great creativity and productive passing play and the two Martins at the back, Skrtel and Kelly, kept City's front force of Mario Balotelli and Tevez stumm for most of the game, too.

So, the home side looked dominant and in firm control when Skrtel banged in a header off skipper Steven Gerrard's corner just past the half-hour mark and Liverpool took the 1-0 lead into the break.

However, with just under half an hour to go, Pepe Reina gave away the ball to Yaya Toure who just had to tap it in to level the score 1-1 for City.

Exactly three minutes later, Luis Suarez saw his brilliant free kick from just out side the boxc curl around and over the wall into the top right corner of the net, Joe Hart left stranded and City 2-1 behind.

But with City being the new and proven late comeback kings, Tevez made sure the champions would not go back home empty handed turning Skrtel from hero to zero and making Liverpool pay with his equaliser.

Brendan Rodgers brought on Andy Carroll late on to see if the out-of-favour striker could make another comeback out of the comeback, but to no avail. Shelvey came closest to a late winner when he saw his strong drive from 25-yards just clearing the bar.

But the Reds can draw strength and confidence from this impressive performance. After making the champions shake and trail as they did, I am sure the (young) Reds can set up a good and strong run and side from here.

FT Liverpool 2-2 Manchester City (HT 1-0)

Liverpool Goals: 1: 33:37min Martin Skrtel (37), 2: 65:54min Luis Suarez (7).

Man City Goals: 1: 62:54min Yaya Toure (42), 2: 79:19min Carlos Tevez (32).

Liverpool: 25 Reina; 2 Johnson, 16 Coates, 37 Skrtel, 34 Kelly (3 Jose Enrique - 66.); 24 Allen, 21 Lucas (33 Shelvey - 5.); 31 Sterling, 8 Gerrard, 29 Borini (9 Carroll - 83.); 7 Suarez (bkd 94.). 4-2-3-1
Subs not used: 1 Jones, 14 Henderson, 19 Downing, 23 Carragher.

Man City: 1 Hart; 13 Kolarov, 28 Toure, 4 Kompany, 5 Zabaleta; 34 de Jong, 42 Toure; 8 Nasri (17 Rodwell - 59.), 32 Tevez, 7 Milner (21 Silva - 76.); 45 Balotelli (10 Dzeko - 62.). 4-2-3-1.
Subs not used: 30 Pantilimon, 6 Lescott, 15 Savic, 62 Razak.

Match Stats: Liverpool-Man City
Attempts: 17-11
On target: 3-3
Offsides: 0-1
Corners: 4-4
Free kicks: 8-10
Possession: 48.7%-51.3%
Tackles: 18-26
Tackles Success: 77.8%-76.9%
Passes: 462-484
Passes Success: 80.5%-84.1%
Crosses: 18-22
Crosses Success: 33.3%-9.1%
Territorial Advantage: 50.5%-49.5%

Referee: Andre Marriner
Man of the match: Raheem Sterling (31)

Week 37: Premier League Tops and Flops

Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Weekend
Top game: The early kick-off on Saturday was a juicy delight! The six-goal thriller at the Emirates opened up the race for the guaranteed Champions League spot in third place for Tottenham and Newcastle who were both playing on Sunday. Norwich were top-quality and fought hard and could have had a dozen of goals. Great entertainment, great watch.
Liverpool's thrashing of Chelsea gained the Reds a hint of revenge for their FA Cup final defeat against the Blues. The first half was cracking, action-packed end-to-end stuff that had everything in it! Goals, penalty, misses, shouts, bouts, slips, tricks, kicks...

Top team: City continued their unbeaten run against Newcastle who have now failed to gain a single point against the Premier League leaders in their last eleven meetings. The Sky Blues will remember St James' Park (now called Sports Direct Arena) fondly, not just for this crucial win, but this is the same ground they were crowned champions in the last time round - 44 years ago! We will see next weekend whether their long wait for another title will have finally come to an end or they will be kept waiting, longing, wishing, dreaming...

Top player: Yaya Toure's double won it for City after being pushed forward by Roberto Mancini after bringing Nigel de Yong on. It turned out to be a super-sub for the league leaders, which gave the Ivory Coast midfielder the freedom he needed to score two sublime and crucial goals.
Cisse has fallen heals-over-head into his fifth goal in seven games for QPR. If Rangers stay up, they have him to thank and hope his heals will stay put.

Top goal: With 19 minutes to go in one of the most crucial games in the title race, Toure was the one to thank and celebrate for a sweet goal to give City the lead against Newcastle. It was one of those unstoppable curls. After a nice one-two, exchanging passes with Sergio Aguero, Yaya produced a precise bend which led the ball right into the corner beyond Tim Krul, impossible for the keeper to reach and stop.
Sunderland's equaliser against Fulham was a smacker by Phillip Bardsley from outside the box past Mark Schwarzer. But only 15 seconds later, straight from kick-off, Mousa Dembele was able to run free and create a fine shot but this time with a wicked deflection off Michael Turner to turn it past Simon Mignolet. Gob-smacking couple of minutes at Craven Cottage which ended up rewarding Fulham with the three points and leave the visitors empty handed.

Top news: This is the first time I remember the title race going to the last weekend - the goals being the only gap between the two Manchester sides. It is going to be an unforgettable crunch-and-a-half next weekend, that's for sure! Can't wait! Oh, and one more relegation place and the last automatic Champions League qualification spot are all still to be decided too, so it's crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch time!

Flop game: Everton's goalless draw at the Molineux stadium was a scrappy draw with relegation-bound Wolves avoiding equalling a Premier League record of 10 straight home defeats. It was their first home point since 4th December and they earned it the hard way, holding through and keeping out a stubborn Everton side who controlled most of the match but ended up the more frustrated going home with two points dropped rather than a point gained, with their Merseyside neighbours creeping up on them in eighth place, only one point between the two going into the final weekend of the season.

Flop team: Bolton dropped points again against West Brom after giving away a precious two-goal lead. James Morrison came off the bench to score a last-minute equaliser, earning his side a point and putting a severe dent in Bolton's chances of surviving the relegation battle. The Wanderers now need to win their last match of the season away to Stoke and rely on Manchester City not to slip up against QPR, who are two points ahead of Owen Coyle's side in 17th and nine goals better off in goal difference.

Flop player: John Terry had a night to forget at Anfield. Suspended for the Champions League final, the skipper did not give Roberto Di Matteo much reason to miss him giving away three goals, one nuts through the legs, one slip and one set-piece giveaway. The defender can call himself luck if he will find his name on the England Euro 2012 team sheet!
It is a rare occurence to find Robin van Persie under this category, but the way the Dutch striker went down in the box instead of converting the chance there and then, fool him! No penalty for his antiques and two points dropped for Arsenal in the race for thirs and automatic Champions League qualification!

Flop goal: Bolton's second goal had a stroke of luck in it, the ball smashing from one defender to another, ending up in the back of the net as an own goal thanks to Billy Jones' deflection. Coyle will be wondering where the luck went to for the rest of the game and whether it will finally be on their side when it comes to the relegation crunch at the final weekend of the season or they are destined for the drop and going to join Blackburn and Wolves in the Championship next season.

Flop news: I cannot believe I have to work next weekend, i.e. I am going to miss the whole epic episode with all the crunches, deciders and drama! Argh! Thank god for Sky+! I will be ignoring any social media and news input or output on my way home, to make sure I can catch the highlights and still be part of all the blood, sweat and tears!

My predictions - Actual results

Arsenal 1:2 Norwich City - 3:3
Newcastle 1:1 Man City - 0:2
Aston Villa 1:3 Tottenham - 1:1
Bolton 3:2 West Brom - 2:2
Fulham 0:0 Sunderland - 2:1
QPR  2:0 Stoke City - 1:0
Wolves  0:3 Everton - 0:0
Man United 3:0 Swansea City - 2:0
Blackburn 1:2 Wigan - 0:1
Blackburn are relegated
Liverpool 0:2 Chelsea - 4:1

Ten-man City ease past Liverpool

Sports - Football - Premier League - Man City 3:0 Liverpool

Manchester City comfortably kept their unbeaten run at home with a 3-0 beating of Liverpool at the Etihad stadium and recovered well from their shock defeat at Sunderland which was just around 48 hours ago.



Although, as always, there were questionable decisions by referee Andre Marriner, there is no doubt over who outplayed whom with Liverpool all huff and puff but no quality as BBC's Tom Rostance summarized the performance accordingly.

Each time when it looked like they were gaining in momentum, the Reds slipped up and lost it again. First Pepe Reina, of all people, let Sergio Aguero's shot drop under him for the opening goal, the Spaniard not happy understandably.

Then, when Liverpool had gained advantage in possession, territory and pressure again, Yaya Toure headed in a City corner, past Reina and the two defenders Jose Enrique and Charlie Adam, easily beating Glen Johnson by a couple of inches.



Gareth Barry's 450th Premier League appearance was nothing to shout about, apart from a couple of harsh decision which went against him. The England midfielder saw his first booking for bringing down Jay Spearing who looked like he made the most of the brush past just before half time.

Then in the second half, after Kenny Dalglish had rang in the changes bringing on Steven Gerrard and Craig Bellamy for below par Adam and Dirk Kuyt, Liverpool started to speed and heat up the match more.

A minute of madness followed just over halfway through the second half: Barry was sent off, booked the second time for a push on Daniel Agger. Harsh again, as it looked neither here nor there between the two, although he was warned off shortly before that after a tackle on Gerrard.


But instead of taking advantage of the referee's decision and the extra man, Liverpool's Enrique gave away the resulting free kick very cheaply for City to break out onto a counter attack and Yaya Toure to win a penalty after being brought down by Martin Skrtel. It looked like a very soft touch, another harsh decision by Marriner, but James Milner netted it cooly to the right, sending Reina the wrong way, to seal the match, result and three points, 3-0 to City.

Liverpool tried and tried, but never got very far, no matter how much possession and time they had on the ball. Andy Carrol was useless and nowhere to be seen apart from a couple of misses as always. Stewart Downing and Enrique produced the only sparks of hope with some fine breaks and crosses, as Bellamy did later, too.

But, whether it was because Luis Suarez was missing, after starting his eight-match ban for racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra, or because of the bad weather (it was absolutely pouring it down turning the football pitch into a water glide), Liverpool never looked like they were getting close.



And City did not have to make much of an effort to grab the win, it just looked too easy! Although man of the match Vincent Kompany's outstanding performance at the back needs to be noted. He kept the little Liverpool resistence there was at bay superbly and gave them no chance whatsoever of a comeback. They are now three points clear at the top ahead of local rivals United.

King Kenny hit the spot in response to Liverpool's performance: "If you want to be successful you have to be clinical, and that's what was missing tonight from ourselves. We worked hard and passed it well, but if you're not clinical you won't progress."

Man City: Hart; Richards, Kompany, Kolo Toure, Clichy; Yaya Toure (scored 32:30), Barry (booked 45. s.o. 73), Aguero (scored 9:53; Johnson 72), Silva (Lescott 76), Milner (scored penalty 74:13), Dzeko.
Subs not used: Pantiliman, Zabaleta, Kolarov, Savic, De Jong.

Liverpool: Reina; Johnson (booked 56), Agger, Skrtel, Jose Enrique; Adam (Gerrard 57), Kuyt (Bellamy 57), Henderson, Spearing (Rodriguez 76), Downing, Carroll.
Subs not used: Doni, Carragher, Shelvey, Kelly.

1st & 2nd half stats: Man City-Liverpool
Attempts: 7:7 & 2:6
On target: 6:4 & 1:2
Offsides: 0:0 & 0:0
Corners: 5:2 & 0:4
Free kicks: 4:6 & 3:6
Possession:
BBC: 51%-49% & 50%-50%
Sky Sports: 45%-55% & 26.6%-73.4% (!!!)

Further Sky Sports stats: Man City-Liverpool
Passing Success: 77.3%-86.2%
Tackles/Success: 19/68.4%-17/82.4%
Territorial Advantage: 42.1%-57.9% (!!! again)
Action Areas: Man City 43%-44%-13% Liverpool (!!! last time)

Referee: Andre Marriner (West Midlands)
Man of the match: Vincent Kompany