Watford halt Reds’ unbeaten run
Runaway leaders Liverpool’s streak halted at 44 games, hope to emulate ‘Invincibles’ Arsenal dashed
WATFORD: Liverpool’s unbeaten run of success in this season’s Premier League was ended in unfathomable fashion on Saturday as struggling Watford hammered the European champions 3-0 at their ecstatic Vicarage Road stadium.
Ismaila Sarr inspired the extraordinary upset, stunning off-key Liverpool with two goals in six second-half minutes before setting up captain Troy Deeney with a third for the team who had started the day one from bottom, 55 points behind the runaway leaders.
Liverpool’s first league defeat of the season in their 28th match meant the end of their hopes of going the whole league campaign unbeaten as the new ‘Invincibles’ and of emulating Arsenal’s feat of 2003-04 and Preston North End’s in 1888-89.
It also concluded their run of 44 league matches without defeat stretching back to January 2019 and came on the day they were expected to surpass champions Manchester City by creating a new English top-flight record of 19 successive league victories.
The setback will doubtless not stop Juergen Klopp’s men going on to lift their first English title for 30 years as they remain 22 points ahead of their nearest pursuers City, who have a game in hand.
Yet their season’s aura of domestic invincibility was demolished on Saturday.
“Our best performance by a country mile. No-one give us a prayer or a hope for this one,” said Deeney, who praised manof-the-match Sarr as an “unbelievable player, unbelievable talent”. Klopp had no complaints. “They did exactly what they wanted to do, we did not. That’s how football works,” shrugged the German.
“You have to accept it, it’s not so easy, but we were not good enough tonight.”
Liverpool had previously dropped only two points in the league this season—their draw at Manchester United in October—but from the start, Watford attacked them with a vigour that belied their struggles in the league.
Watford, who had not won any of their previous five league games, quickly looked the more likely to break the deadlock in the first half, with Gerard Deulofeu proving Liverpool’s main tormentor before he was stretchered off with a knee injury that manager Nigel Pearson described as “bad”.
Yet it was only when the Senegalese winger Sarr struck twice just before the hour mark that the Hornets dared to dream.
First he poked home from close range after Liverpool had failed to deal with a throw-in and then, after Will Hughes had set up an attack with a neat backheel, he powered forward and lifted the ball over the advancing Alisson.
Sarr then completed his fairytale day by latching on to Trent Alexander-arnold’s poor back pass and setting up Deeney, although he did miss a good chance to complete his hat-trick.
UNITED DRAW
LIVERPOOL: Everton and Manchester United drew 1-1 at Goodison Park in the Premier League on Sunday in an enthralling game which ended in VAR drama. A dreadful error from United keeper David De Gea gifted Everton a third-minute opener—the Spaniard dawdled on the ball after a pass-back from Harry Maguire and his attempted clearance was charged down by Dominic Calvert-lewin
and flew off the Everton striker into the net.
It was January signing Bruno Feranandes who put the visitors level with a superb low shot from outside the box in the 31st minute. There was VAR drama in stoppage time when Everton thought they had a winner. Calvert-lewin’s low shot deflected off Maguire and spun past Sigurdsson who was lying on the floor in what the video referee ruled was an offside position.
WOLVES BEAT SPURS
LONDON: Raul Jimenez boosted Wolves’ bid to qualify for the Champions League as his late winner capped the visitors’ dramatic fightback in their 3-2 victory at Tottenham on Sunday. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side trailed twice in north London, but hit back from 2-1 down thanks to second half goals from Diogo Jota and Jimenez. Wolves moved two points above Tottenham into sixth place.