EPL Gameweek 1: Liverpool beat Stoke City 1-0 in Premier League opener

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – AUGUST 17: Daniel Sturridge of Liverpool celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Liverpool and Stoke City at Anfield on August 17, 2013 in Liverpool, England.

Liverpool started their 2013/14 EPL campaign on a high note as they beat Stoke City 1-0 at home in the first game of the new EPL season.

Stoke started the game strongly, as Robert Huth managed to rattle the Liverpool goalpost in 10^th minute of the match. However, it was Liverpool who dominated proceedings after that. In the 12^th minute, Daniel Sturridge put the ball in the back of the net, but the goal was ruled offside.

Despite some good chances falling to the Liverpool forwards, the scoreline remained goalless thanks to Stoke keeper Asmir Begovic’s smart saves. But finally, Daniel Sturridge scored the opening goal for Liverpool in the 37^th minute as he shot from outside the box. Debutant Iago Aspas provided the assist for the Englishman.

Stoke, too, had a few good chances in the first half, but former Sunderland keeper Simon Mignolet made a couple of tremendous saves to ensure that the score remained 1-0 at the end of the first half.

The second half, although not short on action, was unable to produce any goals as Liverpool continued to test the Stoke defence and dominated proceedings. Begovic, once again, held his own against the Liverpool attack, making some crucial saves to keep the scoreline at 1-0.

Stoke had a great chance to equalise as they won a late penalty in the 88th minute as Daniel Agger accidentally handled the ball in an attempt to clear a free kick. Jonathan Walters stepped up to take the spot kick, but Mignolet made a great double save as he dived to the right to save the penalty, and managed to deflect Kenwyne Jones’s follow up attempt.

The score remained unchanged at the end of 3 minutes of stoppage time as Liverpool held on to be the first team to register a victory this season.