Two super goals from Jordan Henderson and yes, once again, Philippe Coutinho, led Liverpool to their biggest win of the season, 2-1 over Manchester City, playing second fiddle to their Anfield hosts, and maybe raising a white flag in the Premier League title race this season.
It’s not that Manchester City were bad, but except for their equalizing goal in the 25th minute by Edin Dzeko after a wonderful assist from Sergio Aguero and some lazy marking from Emre Can, never really tested Simon Mignolet. They crossed and were close to the box, but were the less dangerous side by far.
The best player on the pitch was Jordan Henderson, opening the scoring for Liverpool with a goal we didn’t know he had in him. He got the ball on the edge of the box and instead of moving it along to a more technically gifted player, he made the most of the space given to him by Vincent Kompany and rocketed it into Joe Hart’s net in the 11th minute.
A lot of things happened between Dzeko’s equalizer and Coutinho’s winning goal. Raheem Sterling and Adam Lallana missing twice from very comfortable situations, and overall the pace of the match slowing down, which favored City and their forwards. Sterling became less and less accurate, Daniel Sturridge was introduced, but it was Coutinho, just like last season at Anfield in the same encounter, that made the difference.
The Brazilian midfielder, having a wonderful season, took the ball on the edge of the box and just like in Henderson’s case, was given just enough time and space to send a perfect shot into Hart’s goal, once again facing something he simply couldn’t stop.
The win over the champions puts Liverpool a bit closer to the fourth spot in the Premier League. Right now they’re fifth, level on points with Arsenal at fourth and two points behind Manchester United at third. United still have to play at Anfield this season, and so do league leaders Chelsea, now five points ahead of Manchester City and one match in hand.
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