Report: Burnley 0-1 Liverpool
Liverpool kept the pressure on Premier League leaders Manchester City as Fabinho sealed a 1-0 win over Burnley.
Fabinho struck late in the first half at windswept Turf Moor to give Liverpool their fourth successive league victory.
Liverpool are nine points behind City with one game in hand as the Reds refuse to let the title race become a prolonged coronation for Pep Guardiola’s men.
City made it 14 wins from their last 15 league games on Saturday as Raheem Sterling’s hat-trick inspired a 4-0 win at lowly Norwich.
But Guardiola is convinced Liverpool will push the champions all the way to the finish line and the way they ground out a hard-fought success against bottom of the table Burnley suggests he is right not to count them out.
“It is nine points and then it is 12 points because most of the time City play before us. These are really difficult games. That is why we don’t think about the title race,” Reds boss Jurgen Klopp said.
Klopp was able to welcome back Sadio Mane for his first appearance since helping Senegal win the African Cup of Nations.
Burnley were in typically aggressive mood, with Alisson Becker forced to save Josh Brownhill’s swirling strike before Wout Weghorst wasted a golden opportunity for the hosts.
After a shaky start, Fabinho restored order for Liverpool five minutes before half-time.
The Brazilian poked home a fifth goal in his last seven games after Mane headed on Trent Alexander-Arnold’s corner.
“A perfect afternoon. Raining and windy,” Klopp said. “Everything today was set up to be a banana skin for us.
“The balls in the air were so tricky to defend because the wind came from all directions. We played the circumstances rather than suffered from them.”
