Liverpool remain firmly entrenched in their persistent battle to lift the Premier League crown this season after defiantly holding off Manchester City at Anfield.<\/p>\n
The Reds were lagging behind John Stones\u2019 early goal on Sunday until Alexis MacAllister\u00a0scored from the penalty spot to keep Liverpool in the reckoning.<\/p>\n
Jurgen Klopp\u2019s gallant side had numerous chances to snatch a win but were instead compelled by an equally valiant City side to make do with a point, resulting in the race at the top of the Premier League getting even tighter, with just a point separating the top three. With only ten games of the season remaining, the ensuing remaining battle promises even more twists to come.<\/p>\n
Klopp was visibly displeased after his side were denied a late penalty against Man City after Jeremy Doku\u2019s high boot made contact with MacAllister but neither the referee nor VAR had sufficient evidence to award a penalty.<\/p>\n
Post-match, Klopp said: “Isn’t it [VAR] there for just making the right decision and not thinking about how high the bar is to overturn a decision? Anywhere else on the pitch that is a 100% foul, and it\u2019s a yellow card. He hits the ball, and only because his foot is up here, he kicks him.<\/p>\n
“You will find people, like Mike Dean, is he working for Sky? Great appointment by the way but he and others will find something and all the others as well. It\u2019s a penalty for all football people on the planet, if you don\u2019t think so, maybe you\u2019re not a football person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ex-Liverpool star and pundit Jamie Carragher\u00a0believes that Man City remain invariably the side to beat in the race for the Premier League crown amid fierce competition from the Reds and Arsenal. He said: \u201cIf you\u2019re Arsenal and you were watching today, you\u2019re probably thinking that the best possible result for you is a draw.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen if you\u2019re Liverpool and you\u2019re watching Arsenal play Man City in a few weeks time, you\u2019re thinking the same thing so I think from their points of view, they\u2019re still trying to chase down City. They\u2019re still the team to beat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have to find the points to beat them but City\u2019s next four or five games are tough – even though Arsenal are on top, I think Liverpool would still rather see them win over City because I think City\u2019s last five or six games of the season will be ones they get maximum points in. If they don\u2019t drop points in the next few weeks, I think they\u2019ll be really tough to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
From another perspective, both Virgil van Dijk and John Stones believed that Sunday\u2019s result could have ended better for their sides. The Liverpool captain and erstwhile defender said: “Second half was obviously much better than 15-20 minutes in the first half.<\/p>\n
“We should have closed the middle a bit better but we reacted well. We had very good chances, unfortunately we couldn’t get the winner but overall bittersweet. Based on the second half you feel we should have won it, but they hit the post as well. It was so close.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stones, meanwhile, had this to say: \u201cWe feel a bit deflated in the dressing room. We came here to win, but this is such a difficult place to come. I think the second half was more them than us and it kind of balanced out. We’ll take the point.\u201d<\/p>\n
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