Liverpool brushed aside an underwhelming with a 5-0 drubbing at the Anfield and remain top of the table with a point advantage over Manchester City with ten matches remaining in the league. Jurgen Klopp’s men showed great intent right from the start and Sadio Mane struck first blood in the 9th minute giving his side a well-deserved lead early on. Mane came back to complete his brace with a stunning back-heel after he failed to control the ball on the first instance. Divock Origi piled up the misery o the second half as Virgil Van Dijk came up with a late brace to complete the humiliation for Javi Garcia and his men. Trent Alexander Arnold became the youngest player in the Premier League history to provide three assists in a single game.
Is Trent Alexander Arnold the best 20-year old in the English Premier League?
The England international was immense on the night as he whipped dangerous crosses from the right flank and found the target more often than not. Sadio Mane’s first-half brace was a result of his assists. Alexander-Arnold has been a revelation since the time Klopp started using him on the right back position.
He is still 20 years old and is already making headlines and with more experience and maturity he can be one of the best in the world in his position. He kept the Watford defenders at bay and maintained the high tempo of the game throughout the second half as well. He completed his hat-trick of assists with Virgil van Dijk getting on the score-sheet in the second half. It was a clinical performance from Klopp’s men and Trent Alexander-Arnold was definitely one of the standout performers for the Reds.
Liverpool’s attack too much for the underwhelming Watford defence?
Javi Garcia’s men were nowhere in the tie as Liverpool dominated the match right from the start and the likes of Mariappa and Cathcart were struggling to contain the high press and the blistering pace of Sadio Mane, Divock Origi and Mohamed Salah as the trio combined really well. Things were getting tough for Watford as there was no communication among the defenders which resulted in the second goal, where Mane had a poor touch but he finished it with a stunning back-heel as the defenders were caught napping.
Both Masina and Janmaat were also sloppy as the home side kept on pushing through the flanks via Alexander-Arnold and Robertson. Javi Garcia needs to go back to his drawing board and get the issues in his back-line sorted before their next fixture.
Will the Premier League title race go down to the wire?
We have an exciting Premier League title race in hand as both Liverpool and Manchester City clinching full three points from their respective fixtures, the lead for Klopp’s men is only one point with 10 matches to go. Jurgen Klopp’s men will feel confident and hope that they can end Liverpool’s long and arduous trophy drought.
Pep Guardiola, on the other hand, is waiting to capitalize on Liverpool’s mistake. City have not been perfect in all departments this season but they have always managed to churn out results from underwhelming fixtures which makes them a tough opposition to play against. With crunch fixtures left for both sides, it will be interesting to see who slips first and which team capitalizes.
