Winning Liverpool achieve what only one club has done before


Tuesday, May 10, 2022 at 10:58 PM• Mart Oude Nijeweeme • Last update: 23:05

Liverpool did what it had to do on Tuesday evening in the battle for the title in the Premier League. Jürgen Klopp’s team, which did not get further than a 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, did win against Aston Villa this time: 1-2. Goals from Joël Matip and Sadio Mane were enough to beat club legend Steven Gerrard at Villa Park. Mané (15), just like Diogo Jota (16) and Mohamed Salah (22), has now passed the 15-goal mark this season. Only Manchester City have ever managed to finish with at least fifteen goals in the Premier League with three players. The win puts Liverpool back on the same level with City (86 points). However, Josep Guardiola’s team will play against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday.

These are crucial weeks for Liverpool. The Reds have received a heavy blow in the battle for the national title, but are still competing on various fronts this season. This Saturday, Chelsea will face the FA Cup final, while the Champions League final will be played against Real Madrid later this season. Klopp kept Mohamed Salah on the bench for that reason. Andrew Robertson was not part of the roster at all. On the side of Villa, there was a starting spot for Philippe Coutinho. The Brazilian wore the Liverpool shirt between 2013 and 2018.

Fans at Villa Park could count on excitement from the first whistle, as Alisson Becker was called into action early in the game on a bet from Ollie Watkins. Barely a minute later, in the third minute of play, the Liverpool goalie had been beaten. Douglas Luiz overcame him in two instances. The Brazilian initially headed for his compatriot, but was then ready to work the rebound in: 1-0. The answer from Liverpool was not long in coming. Matip tied the score after six minutes. Shots by Virgil van Dijk and Jota could still be blocked from a corner, but Matip’s effort was too powerful: 1-1.

Konstantinos Tsimikas also contributed in the early stages. The former Willem II player saw how Emiliano Martínez narrowly tapped an unintentional shot on goal under the crossbar. The storm subsided after a quarter of an hour of play. Mané headed wide on a pass from Tsimikas and on the other side a header by Danny Ings could not be promoted to a goal. Ten minutes before half time, Mané thought he would double the score. The Senegalese was able to finish easily after a wide pass from Luis Díaz, but the Colombian was offside in the run-up to the goal and was rightly whistled back by referee Jon Moss.

After the rest there was considerably less to enjoy. Trent Alexander-Arnold suddenly tried with a free kick from distance, but saw his shot go just wide. Klopp then brought in Thiago Alcântara for Curtis Jones and saw Mane make the liberating 1-2 not much later. The attacker only had to put his head against a cross from Díaz. The goal was a historic one, as Sane, Salah and Jota have all now scored at least 15 goals in the Premier League this season. Only one team has done that before. In the final phase of the game, Naby Keïta shot wide and a goal by Ings was rightly disallowed for offside.

No. Team m W G V † Pnt
1 Manchester City 35 27 5 3 68 86
2 Liverpool 36 26 8 2 65 86
3 Chelsea 35 19 10 6 39 67
4 Arsenal 35 21 3 11 14 66
5 Tottenham Hotspur 35 19 5 11 20 62
6 Manchester United 37 16 10 11 1 58
7 West Ham United 36 16 7 13 11 55
8 Wolverhampton W. 35 15 5 15 1 50
9 Brighton & Hove Albion 36 11 14 11 -4 47
10 Crystal Palace 35 10 14 11 4 44
11 Aston Villa 35 13 4 18 -1 43
12 Brentford 36 12 7 17 -8 43
13 Newcastle United 36 11 10 15 -21 43
14 Leicester City 34 11 9 14 -7 42
15 Southampton 36 9 13 14 -20 40
16 Everton 34 10 5 19 -19 35
17 Burnley 35 7 13 15 -17 34
18 Leeds United 35 8 10 17 -35 34
19 Watford 35 6 4 25 -38 22
20 Norwich City 35 5 6 24 -53 21