LIVERPOOL TAKES TITLE WINNING TO LAST MATCH AS MATIP’S GOAL WINS GAME AGAINST SOUTHAMPTON.
Liverpool ensured the fate of the Premier League title would go down to the final day of the season, as a heavily-rotated ‘Reds’ battled back from a goal down to win 2-1 against Southampton and move one point behind Manchester City.
The ‘Reds’ played a gruelling 120 minutes on Saturday in order to secure FA Cup glory, leading Jürgen Klopp to make nine changes to the starting XI for their trip to St. Mary’s Stadium. Some of those may have been forced by injury, but after 13 minutes Southampton capitalised to take the lead as they did last season – in what was their only victory in their last nine matches against Liverpool. A 13th-minute counter attack was put away by Nathan Redmond with the hosts’ only shot of the half, albeit with the help of a deflection off James Milner, leaving the visitors incensed as they felt Diogo Jota was fouled in the build up.
Even with their title push dealt a blow early on, this variation of a Liverpool side showed typical spirit and were back on level terms before the half-hour mark. Takumi Minamino struck against the side he spent six months on loan in 2021, blasting a powerful effort inside the near right post from close range. Momentum was with the away side, and it was a mystery how they didn’t go on to take the lead with either James Milner’s bouncing half-volley or Jota’s shot across goal either side of HT.
Southampton worked hard to frustrate Liverpool in the second half, limiting them to shots from outside the box, up until the decisive blow 23 minutes before the final whistle. The taker of the FA Cup’s winning penalty, Kostas Tsimikas, whipped in a cross that was headed on by Mohamed Elyounoussi, and in turn was instinctively headed in by Joël Matip to complete the turnaround.
Defeated in seven of their previous 10 matches, the home side were unable to muster an equaliser despite a late burst of confidence, leaving them still in search of the one point that would mathematically secure safety. All eyes will be on the top of the table heading into Sunday’s showdown though, with a presumably stronger Liverpool side requiring three points against Wolves and a huge favour from Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa at the Etihad.
