Monday’s briefing: Harry Maguire header stuns stuttering Liverpool

Harry Maguire was delighted to end Manchester United’s “embarrassing” wait for back-to-back Premier League victories after his header sunk Liverpool.

Thomas Frank defended Tottenham after they slipped to another home defeat with a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa.

And north of the border, Brendan Rodgers spoke about finding Ferrari speed in a Honda Civic after Celtic suffered their first defeat away to Dundee in 37 years.

Maguire delighted as United stun Liverpool

The visitors celebrated a first victory at Anfield since January 2016 after Maguire headed home shortly after Cody Gakpo had cancelled out Bryan Mbeumo’s early opener.

Maguire’s goal secured a memorable 2-1 win that gave boss Ruben Amorim successive league victories for the first time since taking charge last November.

Maguire told the BBC: “It’s not a stat that we should even be speaking about, because it is an embarrassing stat to have.

“Now that’s out of the way, let’s try and make it three on Saturday against Brighton, because we have to start putting a bit more consistency together.

“The last three or four years we’d put in a performance like this and the following game we come down again.

“We have set a benchmark.”

Frank defends Spurs after Villa compound poor home form

Frank defended his side after a Villa fightback inflicted more home woe on Tottenham.

Rodrigo Bentancur fired Spurs ahead after five minutes, but they failed to build on a strong start as Morgan Rogers equalised in the 37th minute.

Chances remained at a premium in the second half until Villa substitute Emi Buendia curled the ball through a crowd of bodies after 77 minutes to win it.

New boss Frank has overseen two defeats in his first four home league fixtures at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which has added to a dismal overall record over the last 12 months.

This loss makes it three wins from Spurs’ last 18 home league matches.

Asked if he could explain that form, Frank said: “I hope I can. Maybe it is not that simple.

“(This) is a game that is a draw. A clear draw and we could have easily won it instead of Villa and then it is a different narrative. So, I look at the performance on the pitch – we did well and I’ll look at the bits we need to improve.”

Celtic slump to defeat at Dundee

Rodgers bemoaned a lack of firepower after seeing his side suffer a shock 2-0 William Hill Premiership defeat.

In their on-going protest against the Parkhead board, travelling fans immediately disrupted the game by throwing dozens of balls on to the pitch.

When the delay ended, Dundee defender Clark Robertson headed in from a corner in the 17th minute before defender Cameron Carter-Vickers put through his own goal just before the break to confirm Celtic’s first loss at Dens Park since 1988.

Celtic lost Kyogo Furuhashi in January and Adam Idah and Nicolas Kuhn in the summer and Rodgers previously expressed dissatisfaction with the way the transfer window turned out.

He said: “I think the challenge from the summer, now leading into here, where we lost a lot of firepower, a lot of goals out on the team.

“And there’s no way you’ll go into a race and be given the keys to a Honda Civic and say, ‘I want you to drive it like a Ferrari’. It’s not going to happen.”

What’s on today?

West Ham host Brentford in the Premier League, with Nuno Espirito Santo’s side looking to haul themselves out of the relegation zone.