How Liverpool clipped Swansea’s wings in their 4-3 win at Anfield

Daniel Sturridge

Liverpool came out on top in a thrilling game at Anfield, defeating Swansea City 4-3 to keep up their pressure at the top of the table.

With Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City all having won on Saturday, Liverpool needed to record victory in order to maintain their title challenge and they did so in a topsy-turvy game against a spirited Swansea outfit.

Liverpool had raced into a two goal lead after 20 minutes with Daniel Sturridge and Jordan Henderson getting the goals, but Swansea hit back in fine fashion, Jonjo Shelvey scoring a brilliant first time shot before Wilfried Bony headed a deflected effort home.

Sturridge restored Liverpool’s lead just before half-time but Bony grabbed his second of the game from the penalty spot after having been pulled down in the box by Martin Skrtel.

But Liverpool managed to get all three points 20 minutes from time, as Jordan Henderson followed up his own shot to tap home from close range to seal a memorable victory.

Key Stats

Liverpool managed to produced 21 shots over the course of their victory against Swansea, hitting the target with an impressive ten of them, but will be concerned that Swansea managed 14 themselves, meaning those lucky enough to witness the game saw 35 shots, with 15 of them having tested the goalkeepers.

Surprisingly enough, both teams were accurate with their passes as well as Liverpool and Swansea completed 84% and 81% respectively, but it was Swansea’s tackling that proved their undoing.

They won just 38% of their tackles as they didn’t do enough to stop the Liverpool juggernaut, with Liverpool’s 59% being the big statistic that separated the two sides.

Man of the Match

Daniel Sturridge was one of three players to bag a brace but just edges the man of the match vote, having recorded a performance score of 115 for his display against the Swans.

Sturridge opened the scoring early on and grabbed Liverpool’s third of the day as two of four attempts in the game, while he completed two take-ons during the 90 minutes.

He also completed 26 passes with an accuracy of 90% as he contributed to the build up play before he was removed late on to a standing ovation.

Performance Score

Liverpool were quick out of the block and it shows on the Squawka performance score chart, with 200 points separating the two sides after just 20 minutes of action.

As Swansea fought back, the two sides interchanged their levels of superiority until Henderson’s goal put the Reds back into the ascendancy, where they remained for the rest of the game.

Key Observations

Martin Skrtel endured a torrid afternoon against Swansea and in doing so reinforced the belief that Liverpool still need to work on their defence over the summer if they are to be title contenders once more next season.

Skrtel has made more clearances than any other player in the Premier League, but managed only seven despite Swansea’s constant attacking threat, having averaged over 12 per game prior to this match.

Skrtel attempted and lost just one tackle all game and only won one aerial duel as well, while he made two fouls with one having been the idiotic hauling down of Bony for Swansea’s penalty to complete a horrible afternoon for the Slovakian.

In terms more positive news for Liverpool, while people have pondered over Steven Gerrard’s repositioning into a deeper, more defensive role, little has been made of Jordan Henderson’s push forward to become the driving force of the midfield.

Henderson excelled one again in the forward role, netting twice as two of four shots that all hit the target in the game, though he probably needs to make more than one key pass in games like this if he is to make this role his own.

He did complete two take-ons, however, and made three interceptions in a fine all round performance that shows he is capable of being relied on as an attacking driving force as Liverpool look to redress their midfield roles.