OPINION
Liverpool stormed to a 3-1 win on Sunday afternoon at Anfield as they welcomed their Premier League title rivals to Anfield.
The Reds couldn’t have wished for a better result in Merseyside in a result that sent them nine points clear of Pep Guardiola’s side who beat them to the title by a single point last season.
Manchester City kept possession early on, but it was Liverpool who made their time on the ball count as goals from Fabinho and Mohamed Salah handed them a two-goal lead inside the opening 15 minutes.
Sadio Mane then extended their lead at the start of the second half before a late Bernardo Silva goal led to a nervy end for the home end.
Live4Liverpool has rounded up three things learned about Liverpool from their weekend victory:
UNDER-THE-RADAR WIJNALDUM PIVOTAL
Wijnaldum isn’t one of the massive names that Liverpool fans are so used to singing the praises of, but he certainly deserves to be. The 28-year-old was incredible against City, and fans rightly took to Twitter to admit that they were blown away by his performance in the heart of midfield. His impressive 91.8% pass success rate in the Premier League [Source: WhoScored] is the highest in the entire squad of players who have started games, and he is becoming the pivot that connects the Reds’ defence and attack at crucial times in games. Wijnaldum will be pivotal to any title hopes going forward, after certainly cementing his spot in the side in the past couple of seasons.
SALAH HITTING TOP FORM AT RIGHT TIME
This isn’t to say that Salah wasn’t playing well, but he is showing glimpses of hitting the same heights as he did in his first season at Liverpool. The Egyptian international was so good in that first year in Merseyside that he will always be compared to that, and the emergence of Sadio Mane has seen him gain less of the headlines. Salah was phenomenal on Sunday, and he tormented Angelino for the full 90 minutes and took his goal perfectly well in the first half. Should Liverpool rediscover that form consistently, then they will surely be well and truly impossible to stop. The 27-year-old has now been involved in nine goals this season, and Klopp will now that keeping him on the top of his game is integral to their title push.
ONE HAND ON THE TITLE
Liverpool certainly have one hand on the title already, even if it is only November. The Reds went nine points clear of City with this win, meaning they would need to lose three games whilst Sunday’s opponents can’t afford another loss between now and the end of the campaign. That is highly unlikely, especially when you consider that Liverpool have only lost a single game since the beginning of last season – a remarkable effort and something that City have struggled to contend with at the start of this campaign, already losing three of their games. The title is well and truly Liverpool’s to lose, and they are on the verge of their first-ever Premier League title now.
