Will Rooney reports from Bramall Lane as Liverpool move back within two points of Premier League leaders Arsenal.
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00:00 Well, full-time here at Bramall Lane and ends as Sheffield United 0-0 Liverpool 2.
00:05 Liverpool grinding out a hard-fought 4th victory because in truth they weren't at their best, far from it.
00:11 They struggled to create a lot of momentum in the game.
00:15 But Jurgen Klopp again, he's described this period as the most intense of the season.
00:19 And certainly he was delighted with the results after it caused a mature performance for the most part.
00:24 Liverpool didn't create an awful lot in the first half, Mo Salah put a volley over the bar.
00:31 Sheffield United actually threatened early in the first half after Salah's chance in the 12th minute when Joe Gomez gave the ball away.
00:40 Sheffield United hit Liverpool on the counter-attack and they worked it to James McCarthy.
00:44 But Kovi Nkala had made an excellent save in the Liverpool goal.
00:47 He didn't have an awful lot to do to be honest with you, but he made a great save there.
00:51 The Bull had to wait until the 37th minute to open the scoring through the skip of Virgil van Dijk, man of the match for the evening.
00:58 Whipped in by Trent Alexander-Arnold who had another outstanding game, the corner.
01:04 Whipped in a corner and van Dijk was left unmarked completely in the box and just volleyed home like an experienced striker really.
01:12 Sheffield United's remonstrator said that van Dijk committed a foul in the build-up, but the referee wasn't having it.
01:18 Early in the second half Mo Salah must have thought that he would finally make it to 200 Liverpool goals when another corner came in from Trent Alexander-Arnold.
01:29 Again, Salah this time was left unmarked, he hit a sweetly struck volley first time.
01:35 But Sheffield United keeper Wes Fosgren made an excellent save.
01:39 Liverpool struggled to be honest with you, the front three weren't great throughout the game.
01:44 Particularly Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo. Diaz has hit a little bit of a lull, he looked leggy to me.
01:51 Gakpo was pretty anonymous.
01:53 They perked up when Nunes came off the bench, beg your pardon.
01:58 Nunes, he actually went close when he was set free by Trent Alexander-Arnold.
02:04 But Fosgren came off his line to make a good save.
02:09 But in the closing stages Liverpool finally had the second.
02:14 This is after Sheffield United thought they deserved a penalty before Ibishima Kanate had made a foul.
02:19 But that was turned down.
02:21 Liverpool at the stoppage time, Darren Nunes won the ball back.
02:24 Then picked out Sobha Sply in all sorts of spaces, he finished it with a plump.
02:28 Now Liverpool back within two points of Arsenal, the league leaders.
02:32 And more importantly, Manchester City dropping points, getting beat by Aston Villa.
02:36 A massive result for Liverpool tonight.
02:39 These are the sorts of games they're going to have to grind out.
02:42 They've got another very, very quick turnaround when they go to Crystal Palace at half-twelve on Saturday.
02:48 Another early kick-off, which is not good for Liverpool, having to travel down there.
02:53 The disappointing one for tonight was the news confirming that Joel Mastridge had ruptured his ACL.
03:01 He suffered that in the victory over Fulham at the weekend.
03:05 When the Eton Club gave his press conference, he hadn't had a scan yet, and it's confirmed he's ruptured his ACL.
03:11 So it looks like he might potentially be out for the rest of the season.
03:15 And he's out of contracts at the end of the campaign.
03:17 Will that have an impact on anything? We'll have to see.
03:20 Alexis McAlister came off with a nasty cut.
03:23 He's now in doubt for the game against Crystal Palace, you'd have to think.
03:26 But all in all, the Eton Club will just be seeing this as another three points, massive three points.
03:33 As Liverpool, they just keep churning out wins.
03:37 And that's important if they are going to mount a title charge.
03:41 Still early days yet.
03:43 But a mature performance, as Klopp described it, ended Sheffield United 0-2 Liverpool.