Online Reporter
THE most famous forehead in English football settled the most famous fixture in English football – and the reverberations were felt across the land.
Harry ‘Slab-head’ Maguire nutted home to ensure champions Liverpool were defeated for a fourth successive match and that Manchester United had won at Anfield for the first time in almost a decade.
And for Arne Slot’s shellshocked side, this was a home league for the first time in more than a year.
For Ruben Amorim, here were back-to-back Premier League victories for the very first time.
His United side had won away at the champions last season too – but that derby victory at the Etihad was a smash-and-grab raid. This one was hard-earned.
And everything we thought we knew about these two clubs just a month ago had been turned on its head.
Back then Liverpool were five points clear of rivals, now after a maximum nine-point swing over three rounds of matches, they trail Mikel Arteta’s leaders by four.
Slot had gone hell-for-leather in the final half-hour, and Cody Gakpo had equalised a first-minute Bryan Mbeumo strike – after Liverpool’s Dutch wideman had struck the post THREE times.
Yet Maguire – recalled to the United line-up in an Amorim masterstroke – netted the 84th-minute winner from a gorgeous Bruno Fernandes cross and the visiting fans were in dreamland.
The big central defender is out of favour with England boss Thomas Tuchel and struggles for regular starts at United – but what a moment this was for an honest old-school pro. – Sun
