Liverpool and City both win to set up a mouthwatering date next week

 

Liverpool players celebrate with Fabinho after his goal seal their top spot in the premier league's early kickoff of Saturday at Anfield against Watford. It ended 2-0 to Liverpool. (Photo credit: Premierleague.com)

Liverpool knew what they had to do, despite the absence of Trent Alexander Arnold and Luis Dias from the starting line-up, Liverpool made no mistakes on the assignment, it wasn’t exactly pretty but it was efficient enough for them to taste the top spot even if for just an hour thereabouts.

Joe Gomez stood in for TAA who was watching from the bench, his cross was well met by Diogo Jota who diverted it home with the slightest of quality touches, you wonder how the little man has scored seven headed goals for Liverpool despite his 5’8 frame.

Watford did their best to limit Mohammed Salah but they could have changed the entire story themselves. The Hornets had chances to shock Liverpool, Joao Pedro fired straight at Alisson before Jota scored at the other end, and he had another clean opportunity in the second half but fired wide.

Liverpool sealed it from the spot when Kutcha hacked down Jota and Fabinho converted from the spot. The result took Liverpool to the top of the summit by two points, it was the first time since December that City would be starting a game in second place.

The Champions also knew the assignment before them, it was a strange feeling for them to start a game in any position outside the top spot, but Liverpool’s win over Watford meant they had to do something and didn’t they do it quickly?

Pep Guardiola went with a strange two left-sided center backs in Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake, it didn’t come back to haunt them as Burnley didn’t really trouble them, in actual fact, the Cherries were behind right inside the opening few minutes.

Raheem Sterling found Kevin De Bruyne in the Burnley area and the intelligent Belgian marked his 200^th league appearance for the Cityzens with a crisp finish. City could have doubled that straight up but for fine goalkeeping from Nick Pope.

It was soon 2-0. Ilkay Gundogan’s effort was deflected slightly past Pope and from that point, it felt like it would be lots of goals but poor finishing and good goalkeeping kept it at 2-0, same for the last two fixtures between these two.

Both sides will go into what can be called a title decider next week when they both meet at the Etihad stadium. Only one point separate them on the log and considering the weight of expectations and the beauty of the premier league, block your calendar for this one, it would be a game to remember.