Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has been singled out for praise for his ‘masterclass’ of a performance against Manchester City at the weekend.
The Reds drew 1-1 with Pep Guardiola’s side at Anfield in a thrilling contest between two teams who are surely going to be in the conversation for the Premier League title right until the very end.
Arsenal are currently top on goal difference after beating Brentford 2-1 on Saturday, and they’ll no doubt have been pleased that their two nearest rivals took points off each other.
Still, Liverpool coped surprisingly well in this big game considering that they were without so many star names due to injury, with Alisson and Trent Alexander-Arnold among the most important players who couldn’t feature, while Mohamed Salah started on the bench.
Van Dijk more than stepped up for LFC in this important moment, and he’s earned special praise from BBC Sport pundit Garth Crooks, who named the Dutchman in his latest Premier League team of the week.
Van Dijk put in a masterclass against Man City, says Crooks
“What a performance by Van Dijk in the 1-1 draw against Manchester City,” Crooks said.
“It started with a superb interception by the Liverpool skipper when Phil Foden was about to receive the ball in the game’s opening exchanges. Then a cross from Bernardo Silva was destined for the head of Erling Haaland and looked as though it had beaten Van Dijk, but the Netherlands defender coolly headed the ball out of play.
“His general passing and distribution of the ball was [Bobby] Charlton-esque, while Van Dijk never gave Haaland a kick throughout the match. However, the sliding tackle on Foden in the second half, as the City forward was about to instigate a counter-attack, was telling. Firstly, because you seldom see Van Dijk on his backside, but the occasion demanded it and the quality of the tackle brought a respectful pat on the back from Foden.
“This was a Van Dijk masterclass.”