Klavan Premier League record tops Peak Moments of the New Year

KLAVAN PREMIER LEAGUE ACHIEVEMENT

Liverpool began the New Year knowing that bagging all three points at a tough Burnley without the mercurial Mohamed Salah and Philippe Coutinho was going to be difficult. It was going that way until Sadio Mane broke the deadlock on the hour mark before Johann Gudmundsson equalised three minutes from fulltime. At this point, a stalemate would have been on most minds however, Ragnar Klavan powered a header home in the fourth minute of added time to the joy of Reds travelling fans. The 32-year old centre back became the first Estonian and 97th national to score in the Premier League.

LEICESTER CITY END WINLESS RUN

After going through an unbeaten start since Claude Puel took charge, Leicester City went into the New Year on the back of a four-game winless run in December. They faced a tough opponent in newly-promoted Huddersfield Town who have been doing very well. The Foxes however regrouped with three second-half goals from Riyad Mahrez, Islam Slimani and Marc Albrighton brightening hopes for a positive 2018 in East Midlands.

RED DEVILS TRIUMPH WITHOUT LUKAKU

Manchester United went into the New Year without their record signing Romelu Lukaku who suffered a concussion against Southampton. The Red Devils came up against Everton and put in a sublime performance with Paul Pogba assisting Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard as United ran out 2-0 victors on Merseyside. It was their first win in three league games.

MANCHESTER CITY EXTEND UNBEATEN RUN

Manchester City ended 2017 by playing a draw at Crystal Palace. The goalless stalemate brought an end to an 18-match winning run and only the second time they dropped points this season since August. It didn’t change much as Pep Guardiola’s men maintained their position at the top of the standings and opened up their New Year account at home to Watford. City were back to their usual best as they secured a comfortable 3-0 win courtesy of Raheem Sterling, a Christian Kabasele own goal and Sergio Aguero.

NAPOLI SURRENDER TO ATALANTA

Atalanta made a trip to San Paolo to take on high flying Serie A leaders Napoli in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals on Tuesday night. It wasn’t one that Gian Piero Gasperini’s men were expected to win but shocks do happen and that was the case as Timothy Catagne and Alejandro Gomez established a 2-0 lead for La Dea. Dries Mertens replied six minutes from time for Partenopei but it was not enough to pull a comeback.