In the early match of the weekend, Liverpool grounded out another victory, beating Watford 2-0 at Anfield and extending their unbeaten run at home to 34 matches.
Liverpool began the game brightly, spraying the ball from wide and deep positions, making the pitch enormous, and pulling Watford all over the place. It made for a lot of near chances where the final ball was missing. The Hornets remained content to sit deep and take their chances on the counter.
Watford created chances as Liverpool pushed to play a high line but failed to take any of them. Eventually, the Reds directness paid dividends. In the 34th minute, Roberto Firmino sent a ball wide to a racing Sadio Mane in midfield, who one-touched it to a streaking Mo Salah. From there, the Egyptian controlled it, cut it back, and spun a sensational curler to the far post with his right foot to open the scoring.
The second half saw a series Liverpool opportunities that continued to carve Watford open but failed to find a finish. Mane had a header chalked off by VAR for a debatable offside call. Watford did get an excellent chance when Alisson had to come off his line block Gerard Deulofeu who had slipped behind the Reds defense.
In the final minutes of the match, Mo Salah removed all doubts with a slick flick in the 90th minute, polishing off a brace for the win.
Here are four findings from the match.
