LIVERPOOL: Liverpool opened up an eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League with an emphatic and hugely impressive 3-1 win over defending champions Manchester City at Anfield yesterday.
The victory, sealed with goals from Fabinho, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, leaves unbeaten Liverpool on 34 points from 12 games, eight ahead of Leicester City and Chelsea, and nine in front of Pep Guardiola’s fourth-placed City.
While talk of decisive results in November, with 26 games of the campaign remaining, is premature, the manner of Liverpool’s win over a team which has dominated the league for the past two seasons was certainly a declaration of intent.
Earlier, Manchester United climbed back into the top half of the table, as goals from Andreas Pereira and Marcus Rashford and an own goal from Davy Propper gave the side a 3-1 home win over Brighton and Hove Albion.
United climbed to seventh place on 16 points from 12 games after stretching their unbeaten home run against the Seagulls to 12 matches in all competitions. Brighton slipped to 11th place on 15 points.
The home side benefited from a fine individual display by Anthony Martial, who set up two goals and ran tirelessly at Brighton’s defenders.
Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Aston Villa 2-1 in the Midlands derby with goals from Ruben Neves and Raul Jimenez taking them into the top eight in the Premier League.
Wolves’s first Premier League win over Villa for eight years lifted them to 16 points from 12 games while Villa remain fourth from bottom with 11 points.
“The boys were completely focused and concentrated. It was so good,” Liverpool boss Juergen Klopp said.
Anfield exploded when Liverpool grabbed a sixth-minute lead with a thundering drive from Brazilian Fabinho, who pounced on a poor clearance from Ilkay Gundogan and blasted past Claudio Bravo from over 20 metres out. Yet City felt the stunning effort should have been ruled out – and a penalty awarded to them – as prior to the break that led to the goal Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold appeared to handle the ball inside the box but the VAR review went against the visitors.
It was the latest VAR controversy in the Premier League and is certain to spark more debate, but while the opening goal set the tone, Liverpool’s dominance was soon evident all across the field.