Reds and City take control
Chelsea keep their unbeaten record but are held to a draw by a well-drilled Everton
GOALS BY Mo Salah and Xherdan Shaqiri secured Liverpool a 2-0 victory over bottom club Fulham at Anfield yesterday.
Juergen Klopp’s side made hard work of it for 40 minutes, however, and could easily have fallen behind.
Just before half-time the visitors’ Serbian striker Aleksandar Mitrovic had a headed goal disallowed for offside by the closest of margins.
Liverpool immediately counterattacked and Salah went clear to open the scoring.
Shaqiri’s side-footed volley after 53 minutes doubled the lead, pushing Fulham towards a sixth successive Premier League defeat, which equals a club record.
With only one win in their 12 matches, they remain two points behind the rest and have the worst defensive record in the league, having conceded 31 times.
Goalkeeper Sergio Rico, on loan from La Liga club Sevilla, kept Liverpool at bay for most of the first half, making two particularly good saves from Salah.
Ryan Sessegnon, the highly regarded midfielder, missed a good chance to give the Londoners a shock lead midway through the first half. A flick by Mitrovic put him clear but the teenager pulled his shot wide.
Then came the double blow to Fulham, who felt not only that Mitrovic was just onside when he headed in after a short-corner routine but that the ball was moving when goalkeeper Alisson took the quick free-kick that allowed Trent Alexander-Arnold to send Salah through. Less than 15 seconds had elapsed between the ball being in one net and the other.
Fulham had tried to play offside in vain and their defending was poor again when the unmarked Shaqiri scored with a precise sidefooted volley from Andy Robertson’s cross.
That seemed to knock the stuffing out of them and the only surprise was that Liverpool did not further improve their goal difference.
Manchester City beat Manchester United 3-1 in the Manchester derby.
David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Ikey Gundogan netted for the champions while Anthony Martial scored from the penalty spot for the Red Devils.
Meanwhile, Chelsea were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Everton yesterday.
Chelsea could not make their home advantage count against a well-organised Everton side and failed to score for only the second time in the league this season.
In the other late game yesterday Arsenal left it late to grab an equalizer against Wolves in a 1-1 draw at home.