Liverpool got back to winning ways in the Premier League as they came from behind to beat Sheffield United 2-1 at Anfield.
Roberto Firmino’s tap-in just before half time and Diogo Jota’s well-placed second-half header was enough to give the champions their first victory in the league since September 28.
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Sander Berge gave the visitors a surprise lead with a penalty after Fabinho fouled Oli McBurnie just inside the box.
A free-kick was initially given but a VAR check revealed the foul happened on the line of the penalty box, meaning a spot-kick had to be awarded.
Like at Everton last weekend, Liverpool were also on the wrong end of another marginal VAR call as Mohamed Salah’s well-taken goal was disallowed due to a slight offisde.
But unlike the draw at Goodison Park, both decisions were correct.
The game started as expected – Liverpool on top. They could have had two inside the opening three minutes with John Egan intercepting Sadio Mane’s ball across goal which nearly found its way to Salah, while Aaron Ramsdale was forced to tip an inventive Trent Alexander-Arnold effort over the bar.
But Sheffield United settled down shortly after. Well more than that, they opened the scoring as Berge sent the returning Alisson Becker the wrong way after VAR pointed out Fabinho’s challenge on McBurnie was in fact inside the box.
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The visitors could have added to their lead with McBurnie and Ben Osborn going close, while Berge appeared to be tripped in the box by Jota but no action was taken by the officials on the pitch or upstairs.
And five minutes before the break, Liverpool were level as Firmino finished into a basically empty net after Ramsdale could only parry Mane’s powerful header gratefully into the Brazilian’s path.
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Chris Wilder’s side came again after the break, testing Liverpool’s defence with shots from George Baldock and substitute Oliver Burke.
But it looked like Salah had given the Reds the lead with a superbly taken goal after controlling Alexander-Arnold’s cross from the right exquisitely. However, the VAR graphics showed the Egyptian was only just offside.
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It didn’t matter too much for Liverpool as they had a goal which did stand moments later as Jota nodded in Mane’s searching cross from the left.
This proved to be the decider although Salah should have got one himself as he did all the hard work rolling Egan but his dinked shot came back off the post, while Alisson did well to save Berge’s long-range strike on 74 minutes.
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