MOHAMED Salah scored the only goal as Liverpool spoiled Steven Gerrard’s return to An¬field as Aston Villa manager as the Reds, Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester Unit¬ed all needed penalties to win on Saturday.
City edged 10-man Wolves 1-0 thanks to Raheem Sterling’s controversial winner, Chelsea required two Jorginho spot-kicks to see off Leeds 3-2 and Cristiano Ronaldo made sure United did not slip up with a 1-0 win at bottom-of-the-table Norwich.
Gerrard was given a sub¬dued reception at Anfield as the former Liverpool captain faced his old side for the first time in his playing or coaching career.
“I had to accept it was going to be emotional for me and my family,” said Gerrard. “For me, it was trying to con¬trol that, trying to control the outside noise and be respect¬ful to Aston Villa.” Villa were largely outplayed, but stayed in the game thanks to a combina¬tion of dogged defending, good goalkeeping from Emiliano Martinez and a couple of calls in their favour from referee Stu¬art Attwell, who dismissed two first-half appeals for a Liverpool penalty.— AFP
