Liverpool has closed the gap on Premier League leaders, Chelsea, back to six points courtesy of a 1-0 victory over Manchester City at Anfield on Saturday.
Georginio Wijnaldum scored the only goal of the final Premier League game of 2016 as Liverpool ended the year by moving four points clear of third-placed City, who now find themselves 10 points adrift of Chelsea.
Liverpool, who have now won four consecutive league games against Manchester City for the first time since 1981, took just eight minutes to break the deadlock against their top-four rivals through a quick counter-attack that saw Wijnaldum power a header from Adam Lallana’s cross past a helpless Claudio Bravo.
City continued to see more of the ball, but struggled to create any clear chances as Liverpool kept their game-changers – including the returning Sergio Aguero – quiet.
Bravo was not much busier than his opposite number Simon Mignolet, though, and shots from Wijnaldum and Emre Can around the half-hour mark were the closest either side came to a second goal before the half-time interval.
Wijnaldum’s goal was the only shot on target of the first half at either end, though, while Man City managed just three touches inside the Liverpool box despite seeing most of the possession in the opening 45 minutes.
City finally started to get into the game in an attacking sense after the restart, though, and Aguero registered their first shot on target in the 54th minute with a 25-yard effort that Mignolet comfortably collected.
David Silva came close just a minute later when he ducked into shooting space on the edge of the box before firing a low shot narrowly wide of the far post, before Raheem Sterling and Kolarov had volleyed efforts of their own that failed to trouble Mignolet.
However, the Reds held out to claim all three points and a fourth consecutive victory, setting a new club record for the Premier League era of 43 points at the halfway stage of the season.
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