Soccer

Dubious goals panel ensure Suarez extends his lead as top scorer

Striker awarded second goal in 4-1 win over West Ham

Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard will miss up to six weeks due to injury. Photo: Phil Noble/Reuters
Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard will miss up to six weeks due to injury. Photo: Phil Noble/Reuters
Thu Dec 12 2013 - 01:00

Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has extended his lead as the Premier League’s top scorer after being awarded a second goal in last weekend’s win 4-1 over West Ham.

The Uruguay international’s strike from distance took a deflection off Republic of Ireland Joey O’Brien and went down as an own goal by the defender.

However, the Premier League’s dubious goals panel has now decided the goal should be credited to Suarez, who had already scored once in the game.

It takes the 26-year-old's tally in the league to 15 – three better than Manchester City's Sergio Aguero – and those goals have helped fire Liverpool into second place.

Five games
But Suarez has scored his in just 10 matches as he missed the first five games as a result of his suspension for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic being carried over into this season.

READ MORE

By contrast, Aguero’s 12 have come in 14 league matches.

The Premier League panel also confirmed Liverpool’s second goal in the West Ham game will be Mamadou Sakho’s first for the club despite Martin Skrtel insisting afterwards he had got the final touch.

Meanwhile, captain Steven Gerrard has been ruled out for up to six weeks with a hamstring injury.

Gerrard suffered the injury when attempting a shot during last weekend’s 4-1 win over West Ham and had to be substituted after 56 minutes.

The 33-year-old underwent a scan on Monday, which confirmed that the midfielder will be sidelined for at least a month.

Gerrard will miss some key Premier League games for Liverpool during a busy Christmas period.

The Reds travel to Tottenham on Sunday before hosting Cardiff on December, 21st and they then face tricky trips to Manchester City and Chelsea on December 26th and 29th respectively.

Ruled out
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is already without striker Daniel Sturridge, who was ruled out for up to eight weeks after suffering an ankle injury in training last month.

Gerrard has made 17 appearances for Liverpool this season, scoring three goals. But Rodgers has backed Joe Allen and Lucas Leiva to fill the void in midfield left by Gerrard’s injury.

“Steven is such an important player for us, but we have other players and dynamics in the team and they have to step up,” Rodgers said earlier in the week.