Premier League Roundup: Liverpool put on a lethal show in 7-0 mauling of Crystal Palace; Manchester City beat stubborn Southampton

A very lethal Liverpool side solidified their top spot going into Christmas with a 7-0 mauling of Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Takumi Minamino found the bottom corner after three minutes for his first Premier League goal to send Liverpool on their way.

Palace quickly showed some response but could not get the goal they deserved to go level and Sadio Mane doubled Liverpool’s advantage on 35 minutes.

Roberto Firmino poked in a pass from Andy Robertson for Liverpool’s third before half time as the Reds took total control of the match.

Soon after the second half got underway, Jordan Henderson curled in a fourth before Firmino got his second of the match and Liverpool’s fifth.

Mohamed Salah was brought to join the party late on in the game and he scored a quick-fire brace, including a fantastic second, as Liverpool recorded their biggest Premier League away win.

They are six points clear at the top of the Premier League barring the outcome of the Tottenham Hotspur vs Leicester City match on Sunday.

Palace, however, dropped to 13th, with 18 points.

Watch the highlights of the match below

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said: “It was hard work as well (as ruthless finishing). We had a lot of calm in the moments. They had their moments, 100 per cent, but our finishing in the first half was really clinical.

“I’m not thinking the game is finished at half-time. We had to stay concentrated. That was the challenge. We controlled the game and scored wonderful goals.

“Everything is pleasing, everything is good about this game. Overcoming the difficult problems in the first half with [their] counter-attacks, fighting really hard to avoid a goal there and then on the other side, really top football, top finishing.

“The boys did really well, it was really difficult to play against us today, I would say. And then today they obviously all wore their finishing boots it looked like and when you have that it is really tricky. That’s the reason for the result.

“That didn’t happen for us before and unfortunately it will not happen a lot, but it’s a funny season – we lost 7-2 and now we won 7-0, so at least we could cancel out a little bit the goal difference.

“It clicked today. The boys should be really proud.”

Stats and facts from the match (Backed by Opta)

• Liverpool registered an away top-flight win by a margin of seven goals for the first time in their history, while it was their first seven-goal league victory since a 9-0 win over Crystal Palace in September 1989.
• Crystal Palace conceded seven goals in a home match for the first time in their entire history.
• This was Jurgen Klopp’s 127th victory as Liverpool boss in the Premier League, overtaking Rafael Benitez (126) as the Reds boss with the most wins in Premier League history.
• Liverpool’s Sadio Mané became only the fourth player in Premier League history to score in seven consecutive appearances against an opponent, after Robin van Persie (8 vs Stoke), Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (7 vs West Ham) and Romelu Lukaku (7 vs West Ham).

Southampton 0-1 Manchester City: Sterling’s first-half strike the difference

Manchester City briefly moved up to fifth place in the Premier League with an important 1-0 victory at Southampton on Saturday.

Sterling scored the only goal of the match and it was a classic City move instigated down the right flank by Kevin De Bruyne and finished by the England forward.

Kevin De Bruyne has now collected 15 assists in the Premier League in 2020.

Again, City didn’t give a renowned swashbuckling performance we have come to expect under Pep Guardiola, more of a workmanlike one which was built around defensive unity.

They have now recorded six clean sheets in their last seven games with the axis of John Stones and Ruben Dias continuing to impress as City moved on to the 23-point mark – they later dropped to sixth place after Everton beat Arsenal – eight points behind leaders Liverpool.

Watch the highlights of the match below

Other Premier League results

• Crystal Palace 0-7 Liverpool
• Southampton 0-1 Manchester City
• Everton 2-1 Arsenal
• Newcastle 1-1 Fulham