Liverpool moved nine points clear at the top of the Premier League thanks to their win over Manchester City.
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Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told fans to 'buckle up' in a social media post.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told supporters to 'buckle up' after his side moved nine points clear at the top of the Premier League. The Reds brushed aside title rivals Manchester City in a comfortable 2-0 win over the reigning champions.
Cody Gakpo opened the scoring after 12 minutes following a dominant start from Arne Slot's side. Liverpool hit the post through the towering centre-back in a flurry of chances as Stefan Ortega's goal was put under pressure.
Though they had to weather resistance from City until Mohamed Salah's penalty rounded off the scoring after Luis Diaz capitalised on a Ruben Dias mistake before being brought down by the German goalkeeper.
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Van Dijk was a strong contender for player of the match, which eventually went to Salah, as the Dutchman limited the visitors to few chances and restricted Erling Haaland. In a post on social media, the 33-year-old wrote: "Buckle up!" The post gathered support from Gakpo as well as Diaz with over 420,000 likes.
Contract uncertainty continues to swirl surrounding Van Dijk and his two Liverpool teammates, Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold, with their contracts ticking down. But the Liverpool defender remains focused on the task at hand, he said: "Obviously, everyone wants to be in a position where they, in this case, have 11 points in front of the opponent today.
"But there's so many twists and turns. Now we have some injuries as well to our team, unfortunately, and we have to deal with that as well.
"And, you know, it's game by game and stay calm. But games like this, when you win it like this, it's always a good feeling. And now we're back to recovery and be ready for a very tough run away."