Manchester Citya s defeat at the hands of Manchester United on Sunday, boosted Liverpoola s hopes of finishing in the top four. On Monday, Liverpool made sure that they did their job in order to fight for the last Champions League spot in the Premier League by grabbing a convincing victory over Newcastle United. The Reds are now within four points of fourth-placed Manchester City and with six games still to be played in the Premier League, Liverpool are in with a realistic chance to finish fourth at the end of the season.
Liverpool won the game thanks to a goal each for Raheem Sterling and Joe Allen in the first and second half of the game, respectively. Sterling, who has been in sensational form this season, put Liverpool ahead with a fabulous strike after dancing past the defenders in the box in the 9th minute. In the 38th minute of the game, Newcastle United were denied a penalty by referee Lee Mason when Ayoze Perez went down under a challenge from Lovren. It looked like a clear penalty and could have brought Newcastle level before half-time.
In the early minutes of the second half, Raheem Sterling had a golden opportunity to double his tally and the lead as a cross in from Henderson found him in a fabulous position to score from close range, only for the Englishman to steer it wide from six yards. Eventually, Liverpool did manage to double their lead as Allen scored his first Premier League goal for The Reds. With just 20 minutes remaining in the second half, Allen scored from a loose ball having had his header tamely cleared by Williamson.
After the game, Rodgers praised the team and confirmed that Liverpool will fight until the end for a top four finish.
“We’re going to fight right until the very end,” Rodgers told reporters at a post-match press conference.
“We were obviously on a great run and we won 10 out of 13 games, which has given us a chance. We had two disappointing results. But we’re a group that is very much learning.
“We knew we had to respond to those two defeats – we got ourselves into the semi-finals of a prestigious cup competition and won tonight, which was important for us.”
Liverpool are four points behind Manchester City and only have six Premier League games to overtake the rivals and claim the fourth spot.