Liverpool managed to keep their slim title hopes alive this evening against Leicester City, who were coming off a horrible FA Cup performance against East Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest that dumped Brendan Rodgers’ side out of the competition they won last season but showed no signs of being a side in decline, rising to the occasion to make the game harder than many anticipated.
Jurgen Klopp decided to start with new-boy Luis Diaz up front with Sadio Mané not yet ready after his heroic exploits in the AFCON final against Egypt that saw Senegal crowned as champions of Africa for the first time.
Other changes from the FA Cup win over Cardiff City saw Thiago Alcantara come in for the injured Jordan Henderson, while Fabinho replaced Harvey Elliott, Joel Matip started ahead of Ibrahima Konaté and Andy Robertson got the nod over Kostas Tsimikas,
The match followed a usual pattern for Liverpool recently, starting like they’re going to blow the opposition away but not able to take their early chances, allowing the away side to gain confidence and create their own opportunities, which Leicester did, with James Maddison finding himself free in the left side of the area and targeting a powerful shot at goal that forced Alisson Becker into an excellent save.
Alisson’s save – like many of the saves the Brazilian stopper makes – was vital. Liverpool’s opponents get few chances and Becker is rarely called into action, rarely finds himself under pressure for sustained periods, but, invariably when he is called on, he’s ready to make an important and difficult stop.
Not that the quality of a goalkeeper is judged by the difficulty of saves he makes. Rather, it is his concentration and consistency, the rarity of his mistakes, that count and, in this regard, Alisson’s record at Liverpool is superb.
Thus, the importance of Alisson’s save against Maddison was soon made apparent as, after 34 minutes, Liverpool won a corner at the other end.
Leicester have a woeful record defending set pieces this season and Rodgers had tried to rectify this by ditching the zonal approach to defending the corner and resorting to old-fashioned man-to-man marking.
But this didn’t work either, as Virgil van Dijk, with a shimmy and a dart, found himself on his own to powerfully head Alexander Arnold’s cross at goal. Kasper Schmeichel could only parry the effort and Diogo Jota was there to lash the ball into the net.
The second half unfolded with Liverpool in control and when, after an hour, Salah and Elliott came on for the disappointing Roberto Firmino – who seems to be losing any pace he had and lost the ball two or three times in the middle of the park, leading to dangerous Leicester counterattacks (a similar mistake by Firmino against Cardiff in the FA Cup on Sunday led to the visitors’ consolation goal) – and Jones, and a second and decisive goal for Liverpool seemed inevitable.
Salah, in particular, desperate to put the devastating AFCON final loss behind him, was on a mission to score, Schmeichel and the crossbar denying him, the second effort was a classic curling shot from the edge of the area.
But having failed to put the game to bed, Leicester grew in confidence and Rodgers felt able to make attacking substitutes. From 70 minutes onwards, Leicester began to dominate possession, winning tackles, corners, free-kicks, the second ball and threatening the Liverpool goal.
Fortunately, on the 85th minutes, some excellent pressing from Thiago and Fabinho as Leicester tried to clear a corner, saw the ball falling to Matip, who prodded the ball towards Jota in the area. The Portuguese striker swivelled and hit the ball hard to make it two for Liverpool.
Liverpool deserved to win and deserved to win by more; but struggled to convert their domination and chances, a recurring theme this season.
However, the Reds won the game and keep the pressure on Man City, who are still nine points clear at the top, though Liverpool have a game in hand – against Leeds United at home – and are due to play City at the Etihad in April.
Liverpool fans will be saying ‘win those two games and the gap comes down to three points, leaving Man City no margin for error’. An optimistic scenario, especially since Man City show no signs of slipping up as they relentlessly win game after game.
Up next for Liverpool is an away game against bottom side Burnley. Sean Dyche’s side have been earmarked for relegation, but this week’s comeback draw against Manchester United and the improved performance it represented means it would be a mistake to underestimate the Clarets and assume this will be an automatic or easy win for the Reds.
