Georginio Wijnaldum may have caught people by surprise with his thumping header against Manchester City – but he insists the skill has always been in his arsenal.

The Dutchman powered a sensational goal past the reach of Claudio Bravo in the eighth minute on Saturday, for what proved to be the winner in a hard-fought Premier League game at Anfield.

“I scored a lot of headers at my previous clubs,” the No.5 told Liverpoolfc.com post-match.

“Maybe it’s a surprise to everyone because I’m not tall. The goal was a good goal. We had the ball on the left side, Adam Lallana crossed the ball and I made the header.

“Adam can shoot or cross with both feet, that’s not a problem for him. It was a good header. I only had to head the ball on goal and that’s what I did.”

LFCTV GO: Watch Wijnaldum's wonderful header

Of course, Wijnaldum did much more besides his decisive header, working hard in the centre of the pitch as the game ebbed and flowed – particularly when City increased the pressure in the second half.

For the large part, the Reds restricted Pep Guardiola’s team well and a third clean sheet in the past four matches allowed them to open up a cushion ahead of the visitors in the table.

“It was really important,” Wijnaldum said of the midfield battle. “Because they have a lot of players who can play well between the lines – Silva and De Bruyne.

“That made it difficult for us, because we wanted to play our way and we wanted to press, but sometimes they were playing with four midfielders and sometimes even five if Aguero came to the ball. That’s why it was so difficult to press.

“We were lucky that we scored a goal in the first couple of minutes and at the end we fought to get the win.

“It was a really tough game. We did well, only we lost the ball too quickly and that made City stronger. But at the end we had three points, so it’s good.”

The midfielder also sent praise in the direction of Liverpool’s centre-backs – Ragnar Klavan and Dejan Lovren – for the efforts which thwarted Sergio Aguero and City’s other attacking threats.

Wijnaldum said: “For me, they were the Man of the Match, because they stopped him being dangerous in front of goal.

“Every game, they have to fight with a lot of good strikers. They do it well. They did well and, for me, those two were the Man of the Match. They stopped a world-class player from scoring.”