Liverpool, once again, held fast to their lead position in the Premier League and emerged victorious after their most recent match with Tottenham Hotspur, beating them 2-1 on the 31st of March 2019 in the Anfield stadium. The win became 100% exceptionally bigger than a “comprehensive win” as Toby Alderweirelds own goal in stoppage time (90th minute) tipped the scales in favor of Liverpool at the very end.
Roberto Firmino (attacker and mid-fielder) increased the Reds’s chances of winning early in the match by delivering a perfect header in the 16th minute, assisted by Andrew Robertson’s perfect cross that the goalkeeper had no chance of deflecting.
Such a goal turned out to be both a blessing and a curse as Liverpool either needed to score another goal, or maintain their defense and not allow the Spurs to level themselves. However, that did not turn out to be the case and when Henderson fouled Kane; he took advantage of the free kick and drilled it to Tripper, resulting in the ball reaching Moura who shot a goal.
With an increasing feeling of dread spreading around the stadium, Liverpool (79 points) pushed harder to score another goal because if they didn’t manage to – they were set to hand Manchester City (77 points) an emphatic advantage – a draw would have meant that City could afford to lose one of their remaining seven games.
But, who would’ve guessed that Anfield was in store for such a desperately needed twist of events? Alderweireld’s own goal in the 90th minute did not disappoint, and fans were ecstatic upon witnessing Liverpool as one step closer to becoming Premier League champions.
However, such an own goal couldn’t be possible without the glorious confusion created by Mohamed Salah (forward player for Liverpool) as his header was caught by the Spurs goalkeeper but slipped his hands and rebounded off his defender, trickling slowly and painstakingly over the goal-line. So, it is safe to say that both the defender and the goalkeeper were at fault.
Salah, referred to as “the Egyptian King” – although hasn’t replicated his previous season’s stunts – still remains one of Liverpool’s largest assets. He is the 1st in a list of most valuable goal-scorers this season with 10 winning goals, 2 two-goal lead goals and 5 “any other goals”, giving him a total of 17 goals and a score of 52 points.
He may be in line to possibly win the golden boot and another player from Liverpool, Virgil Van Dijk, to win “Player of the year” this year. Van Dijk also did not disappoint and put on an impeccable show of defending to thwart a late Spurs two-on-one. However, he was injured during this and when Jurgen Klopp (manager of Liverpool) was asked about it in the post-match press conference, he replied “I think it was in the counter-attack situation when Sissoko hit him”.
We can only hope and pray that the world class defender is not too injured and will be able to play in their next game at St Mary’s as they take on Southampton on 5th of April, 2019. With only six games left in the season, if Liverpool carry on with the same charisma and dedication that they presented in the last few games, the title will indefinitely be theirs.
