In Coutinho, Liverpool possessed the game’s most compelling performer, the Brazilian operating nominally from the left of a front three and demonstrating all the jaw-dropping attributes which so attracted Barcelona last summer. Daniels might have done better but was frazzled by then, driven to distraction by Salah’s scuttling charges down the flank. The left-back would soon succumb to a groin strain, joining the hamstrung Josh King in the treatment room, as Eddie Howe surveyed the wreckage of his team’s performance. Jermain Defoe did drive against a post from Junior Stanislas’s pass, but it was Liverpool who always carried the threat. Liverpool are now 12 games unbeaten in all competitions, which would feel mighty impressive if City were not a speck on the horizon some 18 points away.

Source: The Guardian December 17, 2017 18:35 UTC