Liverpool powered back to the top of the Premier League after Mohamed Salah’s stunning strike clinched a 2-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday. Jurgen Klopp’s side had surrendered pole position a few hours earlier when Manchester City won 3-1 at Crystal Palace, piling pressure on the Reds to respond as the title race heats up.
Liverpool rose to the challenge as Sadio Mane’s opener fiveminutes after the break and a blistering long-range drive from Salah twominutes later moved them two points clear of second-placed City on a raucousafternoon at Anfield.
City have five games left compared to just four forLiverpool, leaving the destiny of the title in the hands of the champions.
But there is a growing feeling at Anfield that this will bethe season Liverpool finally end their 29-year wait to be crowned kings ofEnglish football.
Chelsea posed the last major threat to Liverpool’s titlebid, yet the leaders dealt with the challenge impressively to mark Klopp’s200th game as Reds manager in style.
With City having difficult league fixtures looming againstTottenham and Manchester United, Klopp’s men are convinced they can hold ontopole position.
Their run-in is undoubtedly less daunting than City’s, withCardiff, Huddersfield and Newcastle on the schedule before a potential titleparty against Wolves at Anfield.
For fourth-placed Chelsea, the loss was a blow to their bidfor Champions League football next season and they will drop to fifth ifArsenal win at Watford on Monday.
On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Hillsboroughdisaster that killed 96 Liverpool fans and in the week that club legend TommySmith passed away, there was even more emotion at Anfield than usual.
After a minute’s silence featuring mosaics reading “30 years” and “96” held up by fans around the ground, Liverpool’s focus was trained on avenging one of the more painful defeats in the club’s recent history.