Liverpool vs Huddersfield Town. Premier League.
AnfieldAttendance53,249.
Naby Keita, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah return Jurgen Klopp's team back to the top of the Premier League table
Saturday 27 April 2019 08:25, UK
Liverpool maintained the pressure on Premier League title rivals Manchester City with a convincing 5-0 victory over already-relegated Huddersfield on Friday Night Football.
Naby Keita scored the hosts' fastest-ever Premier League goal after 15 seconds before Sadio Mane (23) netted his ninth league goal of the season at Anfield and Mohamed Salah lobbed Jonas Lossl shortly before the break.
Huddersfield tried to work their way into the game with Steve Mounie and Karlan Grant coming close to applying a decisive touch, but Mane's (66) second header of the game and Salah's 21st league goal of the season in the 83rd minute saw Jurgen Klopp's side sweep to a 10th consecutive win.
The result means Liverpool re-establish their two-point lead over Manchester City, who travel to Burnley on Super Sunday and will still secure the league title if they win their remaining three matches.
Having seen City move top of the league by winning their game in hand over Manchester United in midweek, it took a mere 15 seconds for Liverpool to take the lead against Huddersfield as Keita's pressing of defender Jon Stankovic presented the ball to Salah just outside the box, who then slipped in Keita to finish.
Salah could have doubled their lead two minutes later when he raced through on goal, forcing Lossl into a fine save, before the visitors came within a whisker of equalising - Stankovic almost atoning for his error at the opposite end of the pitch when his pass toward the corner of goal was deflected just wide of the post.
Rather than being daunted having fallen behind early, Huddersfield began to show a threat of their own up front with Isaac Mbenza's pass across the six-yard area just evading Steve Mounie.
But, as Liverpool began to exert their authority a powerful drive forward from Virgil van Dijk saw Andy Robertson fed on the left and his exquisite cross was nodded in by Mane - earning the full-back his 10th Premier League assist of the season.
With the Reds dominating possession, captain Jordan Henderson blazed over from 15 yards out but Salah brought Anfield to its feet just before the break as he latched on to Trent Alexander-Arnold's ball over the top, timing his run perfectly before chipping the ball over the on-rushing Lossl.
Jan Siewert's side started the second half brightly, earning two big chances when Grant missed the opportunity to tap the ball into an empty net before Mounie took too long to steady himself after being put through on goal, allowing Liverpool's defenders to recover.
And, when the linesman flagged Daniel Sturridge for offside to keep the score at 3-0, Juninho Bacuna's long-range effort forced Alisson into a fine save.
But the home side's superiority showed as the game wore on, Mane adding his second when he directed Henderson's cross to the back post back across goal before Salah tapped-in from Robertson's cross to seal another impressive three points.
Jurgen Klopp: "All in all it was great, a really brilliant performance. Composure and everything that you need was there. So really happy.
"It's a massive strength for Naby Kieta. He's a complete midfielder. Today it was his best game in all defending situations he was so difficult to deal with. He's so quick in small spaces, you can't stop that. And I don't know how many balls he blocked tonight. People were asking me what about Keita and we always thought we signed him for next year. He needed time to adapt but thank God he has done it this season."
Jan Siewart: "If you are on the backfoot after only one minute it is incredibly hard against a team with this quality and you saw when the lack of confidence is there it is hard to play.
"We had our own moments and chances to score which surprised them. It could have easy to go out and tell my team now we get our helmets and put 10 men at the back but we didn't and we just as aggressive as they were and I am very proud of that."
"Attacking is my way of playing football and Jurgen Klopp has shown in the Premier League that it is possible to get wins playing this way. No-one expected a team at the bottom to play this way here, as brave as we were.
"This is who I am, this is the way I want to coach football and the chances we had made me feel positive although I was not happy about the result."
The Liverpool left-back was the architect of plenty of his side's fine play in the final third. Robertson added his 10th and 11th assist in the league this season - becoming just the third defender to assist at least 10 goals in a single Premier League season.
Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports: "Andy Robertson has been unbelievable. I think when he was first signed people thought he would be a squad player - signed for £8m from a team that had just been relegated. He took some time to settle but right now he is the best left-back in the league."
Gary Neville on Sky Sports: "It was a shocking start from Huddersfield. Teams have stopped playing out form the back against Liverpool because they realise they are one of the best teams at Europe at pressing high up on the pitch."
Liverpool travel to Barcelona on Wednesday for the first leg of their semi-final in the Champions League (8pm BST) before taking on Newcastle on Saturday Night Football (7.45pm) - live on Sky Sports Premier League from 7pm. Huddersfield, meanwhile, hosts Manchester United on Sunday (2pm)- live on Sky Sports Premier League from 1pm.
