8 months ago
122 Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has made it into Alan Shearer’s latest Premier League Team of the Week.
The Reds star is in the form of his life and delivered another solid display as Jurgen Klopp’s charges drew 1-1 with Manchester City.
Van Dijk was a rock at the back for Liverpool. As per Sofascore, he won four ground duels and one aerial duel.
The £220,000-a-week Reds powerhouse also weighed in with four tackles, four interceptions and two clearances against City.
Erling Haaland, normally such a dangerous striker, struggled against the likes of Van Dijk on the day.
When he got a chance to run at him one-on-one, the Liverpool man did enough to push him out wide and muster a weak effort.
Van Dijk’s efforts for Liverpool against City saw him make the cut in Shearer’s selection, one of two Reds players in the XI alongside Wataru Endo.
“They’ve coped well with the loss of a number of key players,” Shearer wrote on the Premier League website.
“But he [Van Dijk] is the one player Liverpool can’t afford to lose if they are to win the title.”
Virgil van Dijk continues to deliver for high-flying Liverpool side
Shearer is spot on. Van Dijk is an absolute colossus at the back for Liverpool. Indeed, this has been the case for most of his time at Anfield.
It’s amazing to think that there were people who questioned whether Van Dijk was past his best not long ago after struggling for form for a while, something that happens to most players at some point.
Van Dijk has answered those critics emphatically, returning to the top of his game and earning praise from fans and pundits alike.
The former Southampton and Celtic man is surely at the level where he deserves a statue outside Liverpool’s in the coming years.
He has contributed so much to Liverpool’s rise from relative mediocrity to their latest golden age. And this year could see yet more major trophies arrive at Anfield.
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