Taking a closer look at the Liverpool and Manchester City play-makers’ weekend performances.
Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho is starting to make a habit of scoring wonderful goals, and his latest could go down as his most important to date.
The Brazilian play-maker scored from 25 yards to give Liverpool a 2-1 win against Manchester City on Sunday, firing the Reds up to fifth in the Premier League and ensuring a top-four finish is well within their grasp.
The 22-year-old is getting better by the week and he outshone City star David Silva in some key areas at the weekend.
| Goals | Goal Assists | Key Passes | Shots | On-target Shooting Accuracy | Dribbles | Passing Accuracy | Duels Won | Mins Played | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philippe Coutinho | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 50% | 8 | 73% | 9 | 90 |
| David Silva | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0% | 4 | 75% | 6 | 90 |
As well as the obvious goal, the Liverpool youngster also had more shots – four compared with Silva’s one – and a much better on-target shooting accuracy – 50 per cent compared with the City player’s zero per cent.
Coutinho also went on twice as many dribbles as Silva on the day and the Liverpool player showed his combative side to win nine duels, with the City player managing just six.
Liverpool’s latest star has a long way to go before he can match the achievements of the Spanish international, but he is definitely on the right track.
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