James Milner’s late penalty gave Liverpool a hard-fought victory over Swansea, increasing the scrutiny on Swans boss Francesco Guidolin.
Leroy Fer gave the hosts a first-half lead when he steered the ball home from close range at the back post after Baston Borja’s knockdown from a corner.
Roberto Firmino levelled shortly after half-time when he headed in from Jordan Henderson’s cross.
Milner netted the winner six minutes from time after Firmino was fouled.
The Liverpool midfielder’s goal was just reward a dominant second half from his team, who have now won four Premier League games in a row.
It was, however, a little cruel on Swansea, whose spirited performance has probably bought Guidolin a little more time to turn things around.
The Swans remain one point above the relegation zone and have not won in the league since the opening day of the season.
But the club’s owners had indicated before the game that the manner of performances would have as much of a bearing on Guidolin’s future as the results.
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Liverpool arrived in south Wales on a high, winning their past three league games and scoring 11 goals in the process.
Despite his side’s fluency in attack, manager Jurgen Klopp had expressed concerns about the Reds’ fragility from set-pieces, and his fears proved well founded as they fell behind in scrappy circumstances.
Rattled by their opponents’ energetic pressing, Liverpool conceded a corner and, from it, Swansea’s £15m record signing Borja headed across goal for Fer to turn the ball in from a yard out.
The ragged visitors could have conceded another had Borja not been so wayward with a free header – and Liverpool fans may have feared another hard lucky story, akin to their only defeat of the season at Burnley, on 20 August.
However, the visitors were vastly improved in the second half as they recaptured their recent impressive form and equalised thanks to more unsteady set-piece defending, as Firmino headed in from close range.
Klopp’s side dominated from that point and, after they were initially thwarted by dogged Swansea defending, they eventually struck when Angel Rangel pushed Firmino in the back and Milner calmly converted the penalty.
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