MIGNOLET ESCAPES RED

EVEN in the biting cold, this was a Liverpool display to make Jurgen Klopp sweat, but in the end he secured a win that keeps his side in the race for Champions League spots. Liverpool had clear chances to make this an even easier victory against difficult opponents and were fortunate to play the final 50 minutes with 11 men. Simon Mignolet should have seen red before half-time for taking out Mame Biram Diouf as the last man. A decision that angered Stoke boss Mark Hughes. ‘It is clearly a goalscoring opportunity, they would be down to ten men and it is a completely different game, he said. ‘From that point, we are trying to get back into the game and we had to take risks. ‘Overall we are disappointed, but we got back into the game after a slow start.’ Liverpool led thanks to Sadio Mane’s first Premier League goal since August early on, then he added the second with 13 minutes to go. Mane did superbly, wriggling free and chipping back to substitute Mohamed Salah, who thumped in a volley for his 11th Premier League goal of the season. Salah then grabbed his 12th, nicking a long ball ahead of Stoke full-back Erik Pieters and finishing coolly beyond Lee Grant. Stoke counter-punched and should have been facing ten men from the 39th minute. Diouf reached a bouncing ball quicker than Joel Matip and nudged it round an onrushing Mignolet, who took out the Stoke player with a flailing leg. It was outside the box but Diouf faced an easy tap-in and a red card should have followed. Klopp disagreed with Hughes on the incident. ‘I don’t think it was lucky with Simon Mignolet, there were two defenders around the situation and he is not the last man,’ claimed the Liverpool boss. ‘That was a proper away game. Really difficult. Thank you is all I said to Mohamed Salah, it is nice to come on in a situation like this. ‘We have a lot of work to do, with Peter Crouch on the pitch it make it difficult and they are good on the ground but we have to keep fighting for the second ball. ‘It was very deserved and we are very happy.’