Liverpool dispelled any suggestion that they are no longer in the race to retain their Premier League title after a comprehensive 3-1 win over Tottenham on Friday morning.
23 hours ago Recently, Liverpool’s woeful run of results had coincided with a number of players being well below their best - notably the full-back pair. Liverpool scores, results and fixtures on BBC Sport, including live football scores, goals and goal scorers.
The Reds had been on a torrid run of form which has seen them drop seven points off the pace and not score a Premier League goal in 2021.
Two goals in the minutes immediately before and after half time changed that though as Roberto Firmino and Trent Alexander Arnold both pounced on defensive errors from goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
Watch European Football with beIN SPORTS and ESPN on Kayo. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
Results Liverpool Match Today
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg halved the deficit shortly after in a whirlwind few minutes before Sadio Mane went from provider to goalscorer to wrap up a much-needed three points for the Reds.
The result sends Liverpool back into the top four, just three points behind Manchester United after their shock loss to Sheffield United, and four behind leaders Manchester City, albeit they have a game in hand.
Spurs, on the other hand, are facing a few weeks without Harry Kane, after the England captain injured both ankles and was withdrawn at half time.
“Two ankles, the first was a bad tackle, it was Thiago, the second one I didn’t know well,” said his manager Jose Mourinho after the game. “But two injuries in both ankles, the second one worst than the first one – a few weeks, I don’t know. There are some players you can’t replace. When it happens it happens but I believe we have to fight against it, we cannot do anything else.”
He added: “It is very hard to resist, to (overcome), so many individual defensive mistakes.
“It’s impossible, unless you score four goals against Liverpool, which is not easy. But every time we reacted the next mistake was coming. It is very difficult to fight against so many mistakes.
“Some of the guys are very disappointed because some of them had a very good performance, but we were punished by individual mistakes.”
The game got off to a rapid start, with Liverpool squandering an early chance before Spurs went down the other end and score through Son Heung-min.
However, the goal was ruled out after an earlier offside by the South Korean and Liverpool went on to dominate the best of the chances for the rest of the half.
Liverpool had not scored a Premier League goal since December 28 and it appeared like their frustrations would continue until Mane played a dangerous ball across the six yard box and Hugo Lloris failed to collect it, allowing Firmino to score the opener four minutes into added time in the first half.
Liverpool Match Today
The second goal came two minutes into the second half as Spurs, still reeling from losing Kane to injury at half-time and the formation reshuffle that followed as a result, allowed Mane too much space to shoot only for Lloris to spill his save into the path of Alexander-Arnold, who fired home.
In the culimination of a breathless few minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Reds barely had a chance to celebrate their second goal as Hojbjerg scored a screamer on the edge of the area to halve the deficit and provide Spurs with a footing to stage a comeback.
But as Spurs pushed for the equaliser, Liverpool went straight down the other end and added a third through Mohamed Salah - only for the VAR to level the playing field and rule it out for an earlier handball by Firmino.
But not to be denied for long, Liverpool got their two-goal cushion soon after as Mane scored to add to his two assists as he capitalised on yet another Spurs defensive error, this time by Joe Rodon, to score.
MANCHESTER, England -- In simple terms, Manchester United's 3-2 victory over Liverpool earned the right to play West Ham in the fifth round of the FA Cup, but it could end up meaning much more.
There were no points on offer and no positions at stake, but during a season in which United have positioned themselves in a Premier League title race for the first time since 2013, wins such as this are -- at the very least -- a psychological boost that also maintain valuable momentum.
Twenty-two years to the day since substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored a late winner to seal a United comeback that beat Liverpool in the FA Cup fourth round, the now-manager watched as substitute Bruno Fernandes scored a late winner to seal a United comeback that beat Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
In 1999, Sir Alex Ferguson's team would not lose again on their way to a Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup treble. This United side would be unlikely to match that kind of run over the next four months even if they were not already out of the European Cup, but Solskjaer believes that certain results can galvanise a group -- even in January -- and this one had that kind of feel.
- Stream replay of Man United vs. Liverpool (U.S. only) | FC Daily
- ESPN+ viewer's guide: Bundesliga, Serie A, MLS, FA Cup, more
Behind to Mohamed Salah's 18th-minute goal, Mason Greenwood levelled before half-time and Marcus Rashford put United in front three minutes after the break, only for Salah to make it 2-2 just before the hour mark.
Results Liverpool Vs Arsenal
Liverpool looked more likely to score again and Salah was denied his hat trick by Dean Henderson's save, but Bruno Fernandes followed his introduction from the bench to score with a curling, 20-yard free kick with 12 minutes to go. Salah shot wide with a chance to force extra time and United held on the go through.
For the first time since a March 2020 win over Manchester City, Solskjaer's team have beaten one of England's established 'big six,' an important hurdle to overcome ahead of the second half of the league season, during which they will play away at City, Tottenham, Chelsea and, next Saturday, Arsenal. Liverpool also visit Old Trafford.
'It's a fantastic to win games over last year's champions, a fantastic team,' Solskjaer said. 'We played on our terms, found a way the players believe in and we are getting stronger and stronger.
'Look at the difference to six months back,' he added. 'You can't take too many big strides at once but we are getting better and winning tight games. The morale and confidence is very good.'
Jurgen Klopp fielded a strong team, with Salah, Roberto Firmino, Thiago, Fabinho, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson picked from the start, but the Liverpool boss is unlikely to shed too many tears for a competition in which he has only ever reached the fifth round once.
Klopp can be pleased that Liverpool's attacking zip returned against United and Salah got his first goals at Old Trafford, but a bigger worry is the trip to Tottenham on Thursday. Liverpool have not won or scored in the league for a month, and that must be remedied quickly if they are to put up a genuine title defence.
Results Liverpool
'It's not what we wanted, so it's frustrating,' Klopp said. 'We made a lot of steps in the right direction. The start of the game was good, we wanted to change the fortune and we scored twice and that's good as well. That's all OK, but they scored three. We can take positives, I saw a lot of positives, we know what to work on but it's how it is. If you are in a situation you don't like, you take steps to get out of it.
Klopp insisted that there is nothing to worry about and that 'as a group we are really together and we have to solve it together,' and it is true that claiming Premier League and Champions League titles in the last two seasons means he does not need the FA Cup as much as Solskjaer, who is still looking for his first trophy in charge of United.
The only downside for the home team was the sight of Rashford, who was outstanding all evening, walking straight down the tunnel after being substituted; Solskjaer said United's joint-top scorer will have a knee scan on Monday.
Liverpool Game Today Live
Moreover, while pleased with the result, the United manager also took the opportunity to remind his players that the optimism generated by beating Liverpool will mean very little if they cannot do the same against Sheffield United on Wednesday.
'In the dressing room it's a great atmosphere, but I want to see a reaction,' he said. 'Everyone is elated and high and they should be, but tomorrow morning I want to see players thinking about Wednesday, not today.'
Results Liverpool Vs West Ham
Solskjaer said in the build-up to this game that, in 1999, it was only after the season ended that he could pick out the important moments that had helped Ferguson's team go on to bigger and better things. Taken in isolation, beating Liverpool in the FA Cup means little more than moving on to the next round, but it could turn out to be far more significant.