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Liverpool picks up draw to go back on top
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Liverpool returned to the top of the Premier League standings on Monday night despite its perfect start to the season ending with a 2-2 draw at Swansea.
Swansea City midfielder Jonjo Shelvey took center stage against his former club, scoring the opener in the 2nd minute, making two shocking passes that set up both goals for Liverpool and then redeemed himself by setting up Michu’s equalizer.
The draw was enough to push Liverpool a point clear of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at the top of the table.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, a former Swansea manager, received a warm welcome on his return to the Liberty Stadium as he greeted some home supporters.
“I thought for the first 65 minutes we were very, very good with and without the ball. We had to show character after going behind so early,” Rodgers said. “This will be a really big point for us.”
Shelvey opened the scoring with a left-foot shot from the right side of the box in the 2nd minute after Liverpool defenders failed to clear the ball properly. Shelvey first missed a volley but recovered to get past Mamadou Sakho and beat goalkeeper Simon Mignolet at his second attempt.
But Shelvey, who left Liverpool for Swansea in the summer, went from hero to villain within two minutes by allowing an equalizer when his slack backpass ended up in Sturridge’s path, with the England striker firing a low shot past Michel Vorm for his 12th goal in 10 games.
Swansea had a good spell of pressure but Liverpool was the most dangerous team as Steven Gerrard celebrated his 400th game as captain with some superb passes. Sturridge missed a chance when his header from close range was blocked by Vorm.
Shelvey made another big mistake when he misdirected a simple pass to Victor Moses, with the player on loan from Chelsea bursting forward from the middle of the pitch before unleashing a shot from the edge of the box to score on his Liverpool debut in the 36th minute.
Vorm was forced into a good save early in the second half to block Andre Wisdom’s volley from close range before tempers frayed — Shelvey and Lucas Leiva were both booked.
Shelvey made some amends in the 64th minute as he picked out Michu with a fine headed pass for the Spaniard to level the score.
“The way we came back in the second half was excellent. It was a really difficult first half, after having the best start of all,” Swansea manager Michael Laudrup said.
“The goals came from huge mistakes. But that is part of the game.”
Swansea had the best of the second half and created several good chances near the end but lacked the finishing touches.
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