SHEFFIELD, Inglaterra —
Liverpool appear to have a deep squad to sustain them in the fight for the Premier League title.
Stripped of Mohamed Salah, who is contesting the African Cup of Nations, as well as creative midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai and most of their first-choice defence, the league leaders easily thwarted any Bournemouth threat in Sunday’s 4-0 victory.
Liverpool regained its five-point lead over three contenders — including defending champion Manchester City, which has a game in hand — and extended its unbeaten run to 14 league games.
The Reds’ only defeat in the league was a 2-1 loss to Tottenham in September, which was plagued by refereeing controversies.
Jürgen Klopp’s rebuilding of the squad following the changes this summer could not have been better. Liverpool are at the top of the league and could reach the League Cup final and they are still alive in the FA Cup and Europa League.
Diogo Jota, usually a backup forward, inspired his team’s victory with a brace after assisting on Uruguay’s Darwin Núñez’s first goal — the forward’s 100th goal for his country and club.
Núñez added another in added time to cap a resounding victory against an opponent who had won seven of nine games.
“It’s part of the job,” Jota mentioned about the absences in Liverpool. “We have some injuries, players with commitments to their national teams. We survived December. January comes hard and fast, and I think we have the players and the quality to continue winning games.”
“When we have world-class players, it is easier with them. But we are Liverpool, we have good players and we can try to replace them and share the cost of the games between us and move on.”
LATE SCORING
The Premier League had never seen a goal scored late until Sheffield United’s Oli McBurnie’s penalty in the 13th minute of added time in a 2-2 draw against West Ham.
The previous record, also a penalty, was Dirk Kuyt’s goal in Liverpool’s duel against Arsenal in 2011. That goal was recorded at 101 minutes and 48 seconds, McBurnie’s occurred 19 seconds later.
This goal ends a crazy added time that included red cards from Sheffield United’s Rhian Brewster and West Ha’s Vladimir Coufal. But the most dramatic thing happened when goalkeeper Alphonse Areola jumped to punch the ball after a cross shot, but ended up making contact with McBurnie.
Areola could not be in goal for the penalty because he had to leave to receive treatment after the foul. Lukasz Fabianski came on in his place.
West Ham remains in sixth place, four points behind Tottenham, which is fifth.
2024-01-21 20:16:16
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