LIVERPOOL, England (AP) - Liverpool beat Swansea 4-3 on Sunday to maintain its Premier League title challenge thanks to two goals each from Daniel Sturridge and Jordan Henderson.
The goals took Liverpool’s tally in the Premier League this season to 70, overtaking Manchester City as the top scorers, and left the fourth-place team just four points behind league leader Chelsea.
However, manager Brendan Rodgers refused to be drawn on Liverpool’s title hopes.
“I think for us, we’re concentrating on our performance,” Rodgers said. “We’re just concentrating on winning games. No one is really talking about us for the title anyway. Everything now is about Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal.”
Sturridge’s first came in the third minute when he received a through ball from Raheem Sterling before rounding Swansea goalkeeper Michel Vorm and firing into an open goal. The striker then provided the assist for Henderson to double Liverpool’s lead in the 20th from the edge of the area.
Jonjo Shelvey pulled one back for Swansea against his former club three minutes later with a long-range strike that went in off the crossbar. He held his arm up in apology to his former club, a gesture that received applause from the Liverpool fans.
But the home supporters were shocked into silence soon after when Wilfried Bony equalized in the 27th minute, with his header from Jonathan De Guzman’s free kick taking a slight deflection off Martin Skrtel.
Sturridge gave Liverpool a 3-2 lead at halftime when he headed in from close range after a Luis Suarez cross had found him unmarked. Swansea levelled soon after the interval though when Bony scored a penalty after being fouled by Skrtel.
Suarez went close to restoring Liverpool’s lead but Vorm saved well when one-on-one with the striker before De Guzman nearly gave Swansea the lead when he shot just wide from a free kick.
Henderson struck the winner after receiving a pass from Suarez. His initial shot was parried by Vorm but the England forward reacted quickest to poke the ball in from close range.
Despite the victory, Rodgers is hoping to see an improved defensive display against Southampton next weekend.
“At 2-0, we should manage the game better,” Rodgers said. “We are obviously very disappointed with the goals we conceded.”
Swansea manager Garry Monk tried to take the positives out of the defeat.
“I can’t complain about the effort from my players,” Monk said. “Going forward, I think it’s a confidence boost to them that they can come to somewhere like this - where a lot of people thought they would wipe the floor with us, the way they’ve been dismantling teams here - and we were in the game right up until the final whistle.”
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