Liverpool went nine points clear at the top of the Premier League with their 2-0 win over Bournemouth, and the away supporters were jubilant as they started to believe title No. 20 could be on the way.
Mo Salah‘s second goal was nearly as unexpected as it was brilliant.
Coming during a period of Bournemouth pressure, the goal was a showcase of why the Egyptian has been so important to Liverpool for the last seven-and-a-half years.
His strike, of course, sent the away section at the Vitality Stadium into raptures and the buoyant mood continued on the journey home.
Here, Chloe Bloxam (@ChloeBloxam) gives her reaction to Liverpool’s win from the coach home, while Sam Millne (@sam_millne) discusses some of the key talking points.
The good…
CHLOE: It had everything you need in that game to win a league title.
It had the luck, and we rode our luck at times; it had the massive individual performances – Andy Robertson who I’ve been a little bit critical of this season, he was phenomenal.
Alisson, who’s had some criticism over the last couple of weeks, was incredible – a saviour today.
You had Mo Salah who was absolutely sensational and just does what he does, game in game out. And that finish, the way he just caresses it so effortlessly into the back of the net, he is on a different planet right now.
The midfield was boss but with that bit of luck that we had and the quality that we had, we also had grit determination and fight.
We had to do so much running and so many hard yards, because they are a brilliant side and they don’t give you a second of rest. Liverpool had to fight, they had to dig deep, they had to want it, and we definitely did all of that.
SAM: Saturday was never going to be an easy outing for Liverpool.
Thankfully, they had got the job done in Europe early so could come into this one refreshed. This seemed particularly noticeable in all three midfielders, who covered immense amounts of ground against a good team willing to commit men forward.
While Luis Diaz didn’t contribute to either of the Reds’ goals, he deserves a mention for the sheer amount of graft he put in going back towards his own goal.
Only Ryan Gravenberch (13) contested more duels than the Colombian, with Diaz winning five of his 11. He also made six recoveries in the game – only Gravenberch, Virgil van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai managed more.
The bad…
SAM: The performance as a whole was excellent, though as Chloe alludes to below, Bournemouth should have done better with their chances as they hit the woodwork twice.
Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s injury is the obvious other downside of the game. We don’t yet know the diagnosis, but it looked like a hamstring issue at first glance and, if that is the case, it would be the third time in 18 months he has missed football due to problems of this type.
That is conjecture, though. What we do know is that he is a doubt for the Tottenham game on Thursday. Thankfully, Conor Bradley is a more-than-able deputy!
CHLOE: We weren’t defensively excellent, we had to have big moments. That was perhaps the only negative, but I just felt like the game had absolutely everything.
Every side of Liverpool was on show. Every weapon that they had and they possess, they showed today. They showed that they can get through games of football, win by any means and fight through tough periods.
But they also showed how you can control, how you can dominate, how stars can make the difference and also, they showed that we are a team that can go on and win this title.
Is the feeling in the away end still apprehensive about the title or are we confident now?
CHLOE: The crowd believed, they’re starting to believe.
After the second goal, the bouts of ‘A Liverbird Upon My Chest’ were absolutely incredible. You can hear us start singing about the league, about being top of the league.
You can feel the belief building and it’s for the players on the pitch to stay humble to, keep up the work and to not think about it.
It’s time for us as fans to start believing it, to start backing the players, because these players so far this season have given us absolutely no reason to doubt that they can come through the other side.
And I’m not going to go too early and say it’s ours, because it’s absolutely not. It’s not over but we’ve given ourselves an incredible foundation and we just need to keep riding the wave that we’re on and hopefully bounce into each and every single game and see what we can make of it.
But yeah, an absolutely incredible away end, an incredible away day and hopefully much more to come.
