Gigi Wijnaldum and James Milner fire Liverpool back to the top of the Premier League

Liverpool held their nerve to move back to the top of the Premier League with a 2-0 victory at Cardiff.

Manchester City will go above Liverpool if they win their game in-hand at Manchester United on Wednesday, but Georginio Wijnaldum’s second-half rocket and James Milner’s penalty ensured the pressure is on them at Old Trafford.

Wijnaldum thundered a volley into the top scorer shortly after half-time to break a spirited Cardiff resistance, before Milner scored from the spot after Mo Salah went down under a Sean Morrison challenge.

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AS IT HAPPENED: Cardiff 0-2 Liverpool

Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mo Salah all missed good first-half chances, while Oumar Niasse went closest for Neil Warnock’s side, who remain three points from safety with three games to play.

Cardiff would have taken great heart from their start, keeping Liverpool at bay and making life difficult for Jurgen Klopp’s side. The dry pitch, not watered heavily before kick-off, also hindered some of Liverpool’s attacking moves.

But they did manufacture the first real chance of the game through Firmino. Mane and Salah linked up nicely on the edge of the box, with the latter poking the ball through to Firmino. He lifted the ball over Neil Etheridge and over the bar, much to the relief of the Cardiff faithful.

Mane was the next member of Liverpool’s attacking triumvirate to pass up the chance to open the scoring, volleying over from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s ball into the near post.

Three minutes later and it was Salah’s turn to frustrate the travelling supporters. He turned Bruno Ecuele Manga and raced into the box, only to see Etheridge’s foot deny him when one-on-one.

But Cardiff continued to work hard and Alisson was called into action on the stroke of half-time. He pushed Oumar Niasse’s hooked volley over the bar after the Reds failed to clear a corner.

Liverpool finally broke the deadlock shortly before the hour-mark. Trent Alexander-Arnold rolled a corner into the box where it was met by Wijnaldum. His volley was struck sweetly and found the top corner, leaving Etheridge with no chance.

Jordan Henderson should have doubled that lead and put the game to bed shortly after the opener. A brilliantly worked move saw the ball cutback for the skipper, but he was leaning back as he shot and the effort went over the bar.

Cardiff nearly made Liverpool pay immediately. Alisson misjudged a ball into the box, leaving Bluebirds skipper Morrison with an open goal to head into. Luckily for Alisson, Morrison also misjudged the flight, dove under the ball and saw it hit his back and bounce clear.

And if there were any nerves in the away end, they disappeared when Milner made it 2-0 from the spot in the final ten minutes.

Mo Salah went down dramatically after being manhandled by Morrison and, much to the disgust of Cardiff’s players, Martin Atkinson pointed to the spot. Milner made no mistake, sending Etheridge the wrong way.

Salah could have got on the scoresheet himself in the final minute of normal time, only for the excellent Etheridge to spring to his right to deny him.

But Liverpool got the job done and all eyes turn to Old Trafford on Wednesday night, when the Reds’ bitter rivals could do them a huge favour as they look to end their 29-year wait for a league title.