Liverpool took yet another giant stride towards Premier League glory with a comprehensive 5-1 victory over Arsenal on Merseyside to put them nine points clear at the top of the table.
Sadio Mane was one of the many heroes in Red at Anfield, as he, Mohamed Salah, and Roberto Firmino all got on the scoresheet, the latter bagging himself his first hattrick for Liverpool and becoming the top scoring Brazilian in Premier League history (overtaking former Liverpool favourite Philippe Coutinho).
Mane’s goal came just after the half hour mark, that meant four goals had been incredibly scored in the space of 32 minutes; a deft finish thanks to Mo Salah’s perfect assist.
However, should Mane have even been on the pitch?
After just seven minutes, the Senegalese was seen purposefully wrapping his hands around Arsenal defender Stephan Lichtsteiner’s neck after the two had been involved in a slightly earlier skirmish.
The astonishing scenes should have seen the Liverpool forward be granted his marching orders and head straight down the
Gobsmackingly, the BT Sport commentary team that featured ex-Red Steve McManaman - perhaps a little over enamoured with Liverpool’s current prowess - brushed the incident off as “a little bit of retribution”.
Few were sensibly argue against attempted strangulation being worthy of dismissal.
Instead, the moment went unnoticed by referee Michael Oliver and Liverpool were allowed to romp home to the three points.
Would Liverpool being reduced to 10 men left then 10 minutes in have made any difference to the result? Judging by Arsenal’s defending on the day, probably not.
Manager Jurgen Klopp will no doubt be wary however that should Mane’s temperament be tested again, it may well prove detrimental to their strongest title challenge in years.
