Fabinho strike earns Liverpool battling win at Burnley

BURNLEY, England :Brazilian Fabinho's first-half goal earned Liverpool a 1-0 win at Burnley on Saturday, as Juergen Klopp's side closed the gap on Premier League leaders Manchester City to nine points.

The hosts initially coped better with the awful Lancashire conditions, creating more chances than Liverpool, only for their wastefulness to prove costly as midfielder Fabinho bundled in what proved to be the winner five minutes before the break.

Chasing a goal that would have earned Burnley their fourth successive draw, they pumped plenty of long balls forward and crosses into the box in the second half, but failed to create a clear-cut chance.

Liverpool dug in defensively, with goalkeeper Alisson standing firm when called upon, to see out a sixth successive win in all competitions.

Victory moved Liverpool on to 54 points from 24 matches and if they win their game in hand on City the gap at the top would be just six points.

Burnley will see this as a missed opportunity and remain rooted to the bottom of the table, seven points from safety, but having played two fewer games than Newcastle United in 17th.

"It is always hard to play here," Fabinho said. "Burnley is a tough place to come. Sometimes we forget to play football a little bit because we want to fight for the second balls but when we had the ball on the ground we created chances.

"We didn't score the second goal but defensively the team was very good today. A nice three points."

Liverpool forwards Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane made their first starts since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations in the driving rain, but could only look on as Burnley started on the front foot.

The first effort at goal was from Burnley after Josh Brownhill's fierce strike was tipped wide by