3. Coutinho suffers injury
Liverpool continued their excellent run in the league that had seen them last lose against Burnley in the second match week, as they extended their 9-game unbeaten run with a 0-0 draw at the St. Mary’s against Southampton and followed it up with a 2-0 win over David Moyes’ Sunderland at Anfield. However, the win had a bittersweet ending for the Reds’ supporters as they saw Coutinho taken off injured in the first-half due to what seemed a serious injury. It was later confirmed that the injury was pretty bad and the Brazilian was likely to miss close to 6 weeks of action.
2. Points Dropped early in December
Liverpool’s 11-game unbeaten run in the league was finally brought to a halt by Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium as the Cherries ran 4-3 winners against the Reds in the first week of December. It was a thrilling encounter with The Reds holding a two-goal lead at the break thanks to goals from Mane and Divock Origi, but Callum Wilson’s penalty got one back for the Cherries. Emre Can restored the two-goal advantage for Liverpool, but strikes from Ryan Fraser and Steve Cook levelled the game before Nathan Ake scored late in injury-time to win it for the Cherries.
The loss was followed by another poor result for Liverpool as they were held to 2-2 draw by strugglers West Ham United at Anfield. Adam Lallana gave the Reds an early lead with an excellent finish. But Dimitri Payet equalised for the Hammers with a free-kick midway through the first half, before Michail Antonio put the visitors ahead shortly before the half-time. Divock Origi brought Liverpool back into the game scoring the leveller in the second half, but the hosts were unable to get the winner and they ended up with just one point from a winnable fixture, leaving them 6 points behind Chelsea.
1. Bounce Back from Poor results
Liverpool, however, managed to turn it around after two consecutive bad results, beating Middlesbrough away 3-0 and followed it up with a crucial win over Everton in the Merseyside derby thanks to a late goal from Sadio Mane. Another clinical performance against Stoke City at Anfield followed as the Reds, after conceding an early goal, bounced back tremendously to win the tie 4-1 emphatically with goals from Lallana, Firmino and an own goal from the Potters’ midfielder Gianelli Imbula before Daniel Sturridge opened his Premier league account with an alert goal. The recent run of form will definitely come in handy as they go up against Plymouth to play the third round of the FA Cup.