79 touches, five tackles, three key passes: Liverpool 27-year-old was incredible against Everton

By Shamanth Jayaram

Liverpool went to Goodison Park for the Merseyside derby yesterday and the Reds didn’t have to get out of first gear to win the game.

Jurgen Klopp’s men started the game brilliantly. Jordan Henderson scored in the ninth minute and Mo Salah doubled Liverpool’s lead 10 minutes later.

Everton pulled one back before half-time, but that changed nothing. Salah scored again in the 64th minute and Diogo Jota made it four 11 minutes before the end of normal time.

The goalscorers deserve a ton of credit, but Andy Robertson, who started at left-back, was absolutely incredible as well.

Andy Robertson stats v Everton

In his 90 minutes on the pitch last night, Robertson picked up two assists – one in each half. He had 79 touches of the ball, completed 39 passes, made three key passes and created one big chance.

The 27-year-old also attempted eight crosses and six long balls. Although most of those didn’t reach a teammate, it pushed Everton back, and that helped Liverpool dominate the game as easily as they did.

Defensively, Robertson was really solid as well. The Scotsman made five tackles, three interceptions and wasn’t dribbled past a single time in the entire game. He won six ground duels as well, which is not a bad record at all. (SofaScore)

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The race for the Premier League title this season will likely be the closest one in years. Manchester City pipped Liverpool for the crown by just one point in 2019, but with Chelsea also in the mix now, it will be a really tight race.

Liverpool will fancy themselves to go all the way and why shouldn’t they. They’ve smashed four past each of their last three opponents in the Premier League, they have the best player in the world firing all cylinders, and injuries aren’t bothering them as much this term.

If Klopp can keep his side going, there’s no reason why Liverpool can’t leapfrog Chelsea and Manchester City to the title. However, it will be interesting to see how they fare in January when Mo Salah and Sadio Mane head out for AFCON.