Liverpool ended their topsy-turvy 2014 on a high after two goals from Adam Lallana, one excellent and one freakish, helped inspire their 4-1 trouncing of Swansea last night in the last Premier League game of the year.
Brendan Rodgers, whose side came so close to winning the title in May but have laboured so often since, could afford a festive smile after his side’s biggest home win of the season which at last reprised some of the best of the goal-hungry, early-2014 Liver-pool.
Alberto Moreno both started and finished off an excellent team move to score after 33 minutes before Lallana was gifted one of the strangest goals of the season after 51 minutes.
Swansea keeper Lukasz Fabianski took an age to make a clearance, then struck the ball straight at the England midfielder only for the ball to thump into Lallana and balloon into the empty net.
Within a minute Swansea responded.
Gylfi Sigurdsson profited from a poor clearance by Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho to beat Simon Mignolet from routine distance.
But Liverpool soon regained complete command with Lallana scoring an authentically excellent third just after the hour.
The England international winger sped past two Swansea defenders before he drilled the ball past Swansea goalkeeper Fabianski.
Liverpool added a fourth goal when Jonjo Shelvey netted a 69th minute own goal, flicking a header past his own keeper from Jordan Henderson’s corner.
The victory, only Liverpool’s third in their last nine Premier League games at Anfield, pushed them into eighth place on 28 points, jumping above Swansea on goals scored and just five points off the top four.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Chelsea | 19 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 41 | 14 | 46 |
| Man. City | 19 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 41 | 17 | 43 |
| Man. United | 19 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 33 | 19 | 36 |
| S’thampton | 19 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 32 | 15 | 33 |
| Arsenal | 19 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 34 | 23 | 33 |
| West Ham | 19 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 30 | 23 | 31 |
| Tottenham | 19 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 24 | 24 | 31 |
| Liverpool | 19 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 26 | 25 | 28 |
| Swansea | 19 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 24 | 23 | 28 |
| Newcastle | 19 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 22 | 28 | 26 |
| Stoke City | 19 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 21 | 23 | 25 |
| Everton | 19 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 29 | 31 | 21 |
| Aston Villa | 19 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 22 | 21 |
| Sunderland | 19 | 3 | 11 | 5 | 16 | 27 | 20 |
| QPR | 19 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 21 | 34 | 18 |
| West Brom | 19 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 18 | 28 | 17 |
| Hull City | 19 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 18 | 26 | 16 |
| C. Palace | 19 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 20 | 30 | 16 |
| Burnley | 19 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 14 | 29 | 16 |
| Leicester | 19 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 17 | 31 | 13 |
Next fixtures
Thursday
13.45 Stoke vs Manchester United.
16.00 Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace; Hull City vs Everton; Liverpool vs Leicester; Man. City vs Sunderland; Newcastle vs Burnley; QPR vs Swansea; Southampton vs Arsenal; West Ham vs West Brom.
18.30 Tottenham vs Chelsea.