Swansea City turned the Premier League form book on its head with a 1-0 win over Liverpool at the Liberty Stadium this evening.
Alfie Mawson scored the only goal of the game on 40 minutes as the visitors slipped to a first league defeat in 15 matches against their bottom-of-the-table hosts.
The Reds did not take any of the momentum earned from their groundbreaking win over Manchester City last week into a sluggish opening period.
Their first chance came on 23 minutes when Virgil van Dijk, making his Premier League bow, nearly added another goal to his debut header against Everton in the FA Cup when he glanced narrowly wide.
Liverpool's best opportunities came when knocking the ball in behind the Swansea defence, and on one occasion Mohamed Salah let the ball drop over his shoulder perfectly only to volley over the crossbar.
Carlos Carvalhal's side created little of note from open play in the first half, but a succession of corners just before the interval gave them the chance to test Liverpool's defence.
Van Dijk did not stand up to the examination as his poor clearing header eventually fell to Mawson, whose sweeping finish into the bottom corner gave Loris Karius no chance.
Swansea's lead may only have lasted six minutes had Sadio Mane not lost his footing just as he went to connect with Salah's stoppage-time cross, his imbalance causing him to slice his back-post volley wide.
Liverpool continued to try to send Salah or Mane free over the top, but good Swansea defending and a string of interventions off his line from Lukasz Fabianski prevented the Reds from having clear-cut chances.
Fabianski did not have to make a save in the second half until Salah's 60th-minute free kick threatened to dip under the crossbar, and only once more on 78 minutes when he got down to a low shot from substitute Danny Ings.
The Pole was beaten five minutes into added time, but Roberto Firmino's header from Van Dijk's cross cannoned off the post, and Adam Lallana could not steer the rebound on target as Swansea hung on for a huge win.
The Welsh outfit remain bottom of the table but have moved level with 19th-place West Bromwich Albion, and to within three points of safety, while Liverpool missed the chance to open up a cushion on the top-four chasers.
SWANSEA (5-4-1): Fabianski; Naughton, Van Der Hoorn, Mawson, Fernandez, Olsson; Clucas, Fer, Ki, Dyer (Carroll, 64'); Ayew (Bony, 79')
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Karius; Gomez, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Can Wijnaldum (Ings, 73'); Salah, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Lallana, 68'), Mane; Firmino
Joe Fish
