Liverpool will be going into 2017 riding on four successive Premier League wins after beating Manchester City 1-0 at Anfield on Saturday evening.
"?With Chelsea having piled on the pressure in an earlier match, no one wanted to drop points in this one.
Jurgen Klopp's men started the clash in second place, a further three points behind the leaders, as Chelsea had claimed a 4-2 win against Stoke City. The German started Roberto Firmino at the point of attack, with the AFCON-bound Sadio Mane and Adam Lallana flanking.
Unfortunately, this game came too soon for Philippe Coutinho, who suffered a knock against Sunderland last month.
City, meanwhile, welcomed Sergio Aguero back to the starting line-up, with the Argentinian having served a four-match ban for his horrific tackle on David Luiz during the 3-1 loss to the league leaders.
The match began with a fair amount of zip, as neither team seemed to own any sort of advantage in the opening minutes. However, after seven minutes, the Reds went in front through a powerful header from Giorginio Wijnaldum.
The Dutchman rose high to meet Lallana's cross from the left flank, heading past Claudio Bravo to give the home side a 1-0 advantage, following a quick counter stemming from City's free kick.
Firmino could have doubled the lead 20 minutes later following a smart long ball from James Milner that forced Bravo off his line, but the Brazilian's touch let him down and allowed Bravo to collect the ball.
The first half wound down to a close with Liverpool up 1-0, quite desperate to maintain the lead after a mostly uneventful period.
Liverpool began the second half on the front foot. Nathaniel Clyne seemed certain to make it 2-0 when the ball fell kindly in the box for him around two minutes from the whistle blast. However, he couldn't hit the ball as cleanly as he would have liked.
The visitors showed better intent than in the first half, but couldn't seem to get that break, despite a few promising waves of attack.
Jordan Henderson, the Liverpool captain, was replaced by Divock Origi in the 64th minute after he appeared to pick up an injury.
City continued dominating the possession, yet could not translate their holding onto the ball into goals. David Silva and Raheem Sterling had their moments on the right side, however, they just could not find that final ball.
Full time at Anfield: Liverpool 1 - 0 Manchester City. #LFC #MCFC
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Four minutes of extra time did little to change the direction of the match, as the Reds fought valiantly enough to hold on to their slim advantage.
With this win, Klopp and his men have kept Chelsea's lead to six points. City, though, will have a lot of catching up to do, as they are now 10 points adrift in the title race.
Line-ups
Liverpool: Mignolet | Clyne, Lovren, Klavan, Milner | Wijnaldum, Henderson, Can | Lallana, Mané, Firmino
Substitutes: Karius, Moreno, Lucas, Alexander-Arnold, Ejaria, Origi, Sturridge
Manchester City: Bravo | Zabaleta, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov | Fernandinho, Touré | Sterling, De Bruyne, Silva | Agüero
Substitutes: Caballero, Clichy, Sagna, Fernando, García, Navas, Iheanacho