Top performances of Wednesday’s Premier League fixtures
By Adam Bakr
Matchday 31 continued on Wednesday, and the day had a handful of great performances across the league.
Along with the performances, the games last night heavily shaped the table. Whether it was the title or European picture, some teams were able to pull further away from their closest rivals in the table.
Here we look at who were the best performers of the day, and what it meant for their teams going into the final stretch of the season
Fabinho and the whole of Liverpool
Coming from a disappointing stalemate where they were far from their best, Liverpool bounced back with a dominant 4-0 win against Crystal Palace. It was a great performance across the board for the Reds, but the play of Fabinho may have been the best of the lot.
It was a reminder that he is one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. After suffering a ligament injury that kept him out for eight league games, Fabinho suffered a dip in form going into the hiatus. Last night, however, it was a return to his best on both sides of the ball.
Offensively, Fabinho marked the performance with both a world-class goal and assist. The assist was a great dinked pass over the top into the path of Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian would make no mistake to put the Reds up 2-0 on the cusp of halftime.
The assist would be overshadowed by his sublime finish in the second half. Picking up the ball deep in midfield off an Andrew Robertson pass, Fabinho would score from 30+ yards out. It was reminiscent of his goal against Manchester City earlier in the season, just better.
On the defensive end, he would be a major component of Liverpool shutting down Crystal Palace for the whole game. He finished the game with six tackles, two interceptions and won seven ground duels.
As mentioned earlier, it was a great game for everyone in red. Salah and Robertson showed everyone what Liverpool was missing on Sunday, looking dangerous throughout the game on their respective sides. Salah finished with a goal and an assist and Robertson assisted the aforementioned Fabinho rocket.
Virgil Van Dijk and Joe Gomez were also a part of Liverpool keeping the Palace attack at bay for 90 minutes, and Trent Alexander-Arnold got the opener for Liverpool with a perfectly placed free-kick midway through the first half. Sadio Mane would score the final goal of the game after a team move that involved himself, Salah, and Roberto Firmino.
The win leaves Liverpool just two points off the title. If Manchester City drop points against Chelsea the race would be over. If City is to win, Liverpool would then have the chance to win the league at the Etihad next Thursday.