Liverpool still fighting after West Brom win

GOALKEEPER Simon Mignolet hailed Liverpool’s defensive unity as they moved up to third in the Premier League after a hard-fought 1-0 win at West Brom.

In a match of few chances, Roberto Firmino and Brazilian teammate Philippe Coutinho both dragged left-footed efforts wide of Ben Foster’s goal in rare attacks for the visitors.

However, in first-half stoppagetime, Firmino was the quickest to react to Lucas Leiva’s flicked header towards the back post and nodded in from close range to put Liverpool ahead.

Mignolet produced a great save to deny Matt Phillips with 10 minutes remaining before Alberto Moreno missed an open goal after West Brom pushed all their players forward, including Foster, for an equaliser as the Merseyside club sealed their first win at the Hawthorns since 2011.

The Belgian said: “When you come away to West Brom, you know what to expect but you have to deal with it.

“A lot of people have been saying that we can’t deal or defend as well as we can but today we proved that we can.

“That has to be the benchmark. We are very pleased with the performance and those three points were massive today.

“Before you come here, you know what is going to happen.

“They throw everything at you, including the goalkeeper but we did well, we defended it. We scored one goal but that was enough.

“I’m happy to help the team out. That’s my job. I’m pleased with that but like I say, everybody did theirs (job) today and that’s the important thing when you play away from home - you have to grind out results sometimes.”