Luis Suarez’ rich vein of form continued as he scored twice to help Liverpool to a convincing 3-0 win over bogey side Wigan Athletic. After a goalless first-half, the Reds striker moved to the top of the Premier League goalscoring charts with a quick-fire double, with Jose Enrique cementing the Reds’ victory with his first goal for the club.Looking for only their second home win of the season, Reds’ boss Brendan Rodgers was able to recall the fit-again Pepe Reina in goal, whilst he served up a surprise tactical move with left-back Enrique deployed in a left-midfield role.But it was Roberto Martinez’ visitors who controlled the early stages of the game, with midfield duo James McCarthy and Ben Watson impressive.On 14 minutes, a neat passing move saw the Latics work the ball to Watson who fired over from 30 yards, before Aruna Kone then tried his luck from distance only for Reina to save comfortably.At the other end, Liverpool were struggling to make any in-roads on the visitors goal, though Spanish youngster Suso did see a shot blocked, before he headed wide after good work by Glen Johnson.After a comfortable half hour for the visitors in which they out-passed their hosts, they were dealt a blow when a midair collision between Watson and Raheem Sterling saw the carrot-haired midfielder leave the field with a suspected broken leg, replaced by David Jones.Five minutes later, Liverpool made a change of their own, though it was purely down to tactical reasons as Rodgers replaced the floating Suso with Jordan Henderson as he looked for his side to assert control in the middle of the park.The change almost paid instant dividends, with Steven Gerrard and Suarez linking up to cross towards Enrique in the six-yard box, though Latics’ keeper Ali Al-Habsi did well to nullify the danger.At half-time, the home fans would have been forgiven for thinking they were set to witness yet another frustrating day at Anfield, but within two minutes of the restart, their fears were put to bed as Liverpool took the lead. And inevitably it was through that man Suarez.Jean Beausejour’s weak pass was intercepted by Sterling, who skipped past Maynor Figueroa and advanced into the Wigan box. The young winger, who made his debut for England in midweek, calmly pulled the ball back for Suarez, who thundered a first-time strike past Al-Habsi into the roof of the net.Eleven minutes later it was two. Enrique picked the ball up wide on the left and was allowed to advance infield unchallenged before he sent a delightful through ball for Suarez, who brilliantly toe-poked past the advancing Al-Habsi to take his Premier League tally to 10 goals already.Number eleven nearly arrived soon after when neat build-up play between Gerrard and Sterling saw the ball worked to Suarez who burst into the box but fired into the side-netting from a tight angle.There was a sour note for Suarez though just past the hour mark when his over-the-top challenge caught Jones. No free-kick was given, but Latics’ boss Martinez later accused Suarez of a deliberate stamp on the Wigan midfielder’s ankle. If the Wigan boss was upset with that challenge, he would have been even more incensed two minutes later when the game was all but sewn up as Enrique notched Liverpool’s third.The Reds were awarded a throw-in despite the ball being deflected out of play via Suarez’ head. As the visitors argued with ref Kevin Friend, the Reds played on with Sterling bursting into the box before playing a one-two with Suarez, and firing a low shot which Al-Habsi did well to keep out, only for Enrique to get ahead of his marker and tap in from less than six yards for his first Reds’ goal.With the result all but confirmed, the only question left was whether or not Suarez would get his hat-trick. He didn’t but he did go close when he fired wide from an tight angle after more good work from Enrique.With three minutes remaining, the striker was afforded a standing ovation as he left the field, replaced by Jonjo Shelvey.The win stretched Rodgers’ side’s unbeaten run to seven games and edged them ever closer to the top ten. With Suarez in this form, things are suddenly looking up for the Reds.This week saw speculation linking Manchester City with a £40million move for the Uruguayan. But with the number seven having struck more than half of his side’s 17 league goals so far this season, no figure can truly capture how much the striker’s worth to the Reds.

A news article on 2012-11-18 10:38:00 from: The Anfield Opinion

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