Spot kick in guts for Gerrard in his return
MOHAMED Salah scored the only goal as Liverpool spoiled Steven Gerrard’s return to Anfield as Aston Villa manager.
The Reds, Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United all needed penalties to win their English Premier League matches on Sunday.
City edged 10-man Wolves 1-0 thanks to Raheem Sterling’s controversial winner, Chelsea required two Jorginho spot kicks to see off Leeds 3-2 and Cristiano Ronaldo made sure United did not slip up, with a 1-0 win at bottom-ofthe-table Norwich.
Gerrard was given a subdued reception at Anfield when the former Liverpool captain faced his old side for the first time in his playing or coaching career.
“I had to accept it was going to be emotional for me and my family,” Gerrard said.
“For me, it was trying to control that, trying to control the outside noise and be respectful to Aston Villa.”
Villa was largely outplayed, but stayed in the game thanks to a combination of dogged defending, good goalkeeping from Emiliano Martinez and a couple of calls in its favour from referee Stuart Attwell, who dismissed two first-half appeals for Liverpool penalties.
However, Gerrard’s men did not escape for a third time when Tyrone Mings pulled down Salah inside the box 25 minutes from time.
Salah smashed home his 21st goal in 22 games this season to ensure Liverpool remained just one point behind City at the top of the table.
“The first 75 minutes was incredible football,” Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said.
“We played in the spaces we wanted to play, but we did not finish the situations, which is tricky.”
City had fortune on its side to see off Wolves, thanks to Sterling’s 100th Premier League goal.
Wolves boss Bruno Lage was furious when Raul Jimenez was dismissed for two quickfire yellow cards before halftime. The Mexican was booked for a trip on Rodrigo and sent off for preventing the Spaniard taking a quick free-kick.
“The first yellow card is a crazy decision for me, in my opinion. A hard decision to accept,” Lage said.
The visitors’ anger was compounded by the origin of the winning goal.
Joao Moutinho was judged to have handled Bernardo Silva’s cross,
despite the ball appearing to come off the Portuguese midfielder’s body on to his upper arm.
Sterling showed no mercy as he coolly slotted home from the spot to bring up his century of English Premier League goals.
Chelsea needed late drama at Stamford Bridge to prevent its title challenge stumbling for the fourth time in six games.
“We needed this win desperately, for the belief, for the mood and for the atmosphere,” Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said.