Coutinho puts Reds within reach of glory

Liverpool 3 Manchester City 2

With both teams going into the match knowing a win would keep the race in their hands, they had swept through Manchester City with goals from Raheem Sterling and Martin Skrtel putting them in front in a raucous atmosphere after 25 minutes.

A first title in 24 years had never been closer and the significance of the moment seemed to paralyse them after the interval, with City hitting back through David Silva and Glen Johnson’s own-goal in the space of five minutes around the hour.

But the period after that could define the season, Gael Clichy flicked on Johnson’s throw, Vincent Kompany, a major doubt for the match after injuring his knee in training on Saturday, scuffed his clearance and Coutinho drilled in from 20 yards.

The noise at the final whistle was staggering but as Liverpool’s players gathered in a circle, a camera picked up Steven Gerrard bellowing: “This doesn’t fucking slip now. Listen, this is gone, we go to Norwich. Exactly the same. We go again.”

Seconds earlier he had been wiping tears from his eyes.

After 10 straight wins, with four matches left at Norwich, at home against Chelsea, at Crystal Palace and at home against Newcastle, four more wins will guarantee him a first league title. There has been so much swagger since the turn of the year but the wins against Sunderland and West Ham have been more about guts and that was the case once again here.

Rodgers said: “We showed resilience to see it through, 10 wins is an incredible achievement and against all the odds we are where we are and still fighting. All I know is that the group is very tight. We’ve fostered a real closeness here in our spirit and that’s improving all the time and you need that.

“To challenge or win anything, it’s more than quality. There has to be a bond and a cause to fight for and you can see that intensity and togetherness is very strong. It shows the mentality to go and win the game. That was important for us.”

It had been described as Liverpool’s biggest league match in a generation but they appeared joyously unaffected as they cut through Manuel Pellegrini’s team, whose two banks of four had no answer to the Reds’ flexibility.

Luis Suarez went in the book within a couple of minutes for a lunge at Martin Demichelis but the hosts were ahead after five minutes. The Uruguayan seized on a loose ball and guided a pass through for Sterling, who calmly waited for Kompany and Joe Hart to commit before prodding into an empty net.

City’s afternoon grew worse when Yaya Toure curled a shot high and wide from the edge of the area and limped off with a hamstring problem, which will be assessed today.

Liverpool should have doubled their lead when Sterling’s cross was deflected to Daniel Sturridge but the forward’s glancing shot flew wide.

Coutinho’s corner picked out Gerrard totally alone six yards from goal but the Liverpool captain’s point-blank header was pushed over the bar by Hart, only for Skrtel to glance in from the Gerrard corner that followed.

City felt they should have had a penalty when Mamadou Sakho went through Edin Dzeko without a trace of the ball and Sterling had to clear off the line.

As the players trudged out after the break a plane towed a message ‘Dare to dream, will to win’, but Liverpool buckled under the pressure.

Suarez dived under no contact from Demichelis with City furious that he was not sent off.

The visitors got one back when the impressive substitute James Milner swapped passes with Fernandinho and clipped a cross over for Silva to guide a shot into the corner.

Less than five minutes later City were level when Nasri was allowed time to slip a pass to Silva and the Spaniard’s cross glanced off Johnson and past Simon Mignolet.

City looked sure to go on and win it and Edin Dzeko thumped straight at Mignolet and when substitute Sergio Aguero wriggled away from Skrtel and fed Silva, the Spaniard somehow missed the target.

But when Coutinho latched on to Kompany’s loose clearance and found the bottom corner, there was to be no way back for City.

Pellegrini claimed Skrtel handled late on and Jordan Henderson was sent off for going over the top on Nasri in added time, but victory was Liverpool’s. The celebrations at the end were as if it had already arrived but, after finishing seventh last season, they are now just six hours away from the title.

LIVERPOOL (4-1-2-1-2): Mignolet 7; Johnson 7, Skrtel 7, Sakho 5, Flanagan 6; Gerrard 8; Coutinho 9 (Moses 89), Henderson 6; Sterling 8 (Lucas 90); Sturridge 6 (Allen 65, 6), Suarez 7.

MANCHESTER CITY (4-4-1-1): Hart 6; Zabaleta 7, Demichelis 7, Kompany 6, Clichy 6; Navas 5 (Milner 50, 8), Fernandinho 6, Toure 6 (Garcia 19, 6), Nasri 6; Silva 8; Dzeko 6 (Aguero 68, 6).

Referee: Mark Clattenburg.