Andre Ayew's double ensured Swansea are safe from the threat of Premier League relegation as Liverpool's weakened team crashed to a 3-1 defeat at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday.
Ghana forward Ayew was on target either side of a wonderful strike from Jack Cork to move Swansea onto 43 points and guarantee they will be playing in the English top-flight next season.
It was a lacklustre effort from Liverpool, who saw Australian defender Brad Smith sent off in the closing stages as the Reds were left to lick their wounds ahead of their Europa League semi-final second leg against Villarreal. With Thursday's game in mind, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp made eight changes from this week's 1-0 first leg defeat in Spain and the visitors paid the price. Only Philippe Coutinho, Nathaniel Clyne and Dejan Lovren survived and Klopp's starting line up was the youngest Liverpool had ever sent out in the Premier League.
Pedro Chivirella, making his Liverpool league debut, and Kevin Stewart provided cover in front of the back four where Smith was employed at left back. Having been ticked off by referee Roger East for a late challenge on Wayne Routledge, Smith played his part in creating Liverpool's first chance of the game.
Unfortunately, when Jordon Ibe picked out Daniel Sturridge at the near post, the striker's volley was off target.
Swansea's first opportunity fell to leading scorer Gylfi Sigurdsson. However, on this occasion, the Icelandic midfielder was denied by goalkeeper Danny Ward. Ayew was off target with a volley 90 seconds later, and though Liverpool posed a threat going forward, their careless distribution was causing them all sorts of issues. Swansea broke the deadlock in the 20th minute when a sweeping move led to a corner on the left.
Comments
Comments are closed.