Liverpool 3 Burnley 1
Jurgen Klopp’s side looked to bounce back from last weekend’s defeat to Arsenal as they welcomed Burnley to Anfield. The Reds sat in second place in the table following Man City’s victory over Everton in the early kick-off. Motivation for all three points if they ever needed it.
Liverpool were missing Alisson and Gomez who were both suffering from illness. After last week’s comedy display from the Brazilian, there would not be many tears shed as it seemed he needed some time to think about what he did wrong.
Vincent Kompany’s side seemed intent on doing his old employers a favour at Anfield. Amdouni broke through the Liverpool defence and only the quick reactions from Kelleher resulted in the stand-in keeper blocking the shot.
At times, Liverpool’s defence looks almost Spartan in the Battle of Thermopylae. On other occasions, it seems like the government’s feeble efforts to prevent illegal immigrants landing on our shores. Just walking them across the beach to their intended goal.
Credit: @LFC
One thing is for sure with this Liverpool team, their best form of defence is attack. As Alexander-Arnold whipped in a corner, Trafford came to collect and got nowhere near it. It dropped onto the head of Jota and he headed the ball into an empty net to give The Reds the lead.
Nunez then got into the box and looked to square the ball to Diaz. His effort was well blocked by Trafford to make up for his previous misjudgement. Whenever Liverpool came forward, Burnley seemed unable to cope with their attacking threat.
The visitors had a rare attack towards the end of the first half and managed to force a corner after Odobert danced past Alexander-Arnold like he was not even there. As Brownhill took the corner, he found O’Shea who headed into the top corner of the goal unchallenged.
Liverpool’s defending at set-pieces begged belief as it seemed as though there were still covid restrictions in place at Anfield. Everyone in the box were stood two yards away from each other and many players were probably wishing they were wearing masks to prevent culprits being identified.
In the early stages of the second half Trafford almost got into trouble again as Captain Chaos closed him down and he just managed to toe-poke the ball away. Liverpool recycled it and as Elliott looked to cross, it deflected into the path of Diaz who headed the hosts back in front.
Vincent Kompany was incensed claiming his side should have had a foul in the build-up. The weird thing is, Ramsey got to the ball before Mac Allister tried to shoot, catching the shin of the midfielder. The player did not go down and was ready to break as he looked for the ball back from Amdouni.
Credit: @LFC
Neither the referee nor VAR were interested in the appeals and the goal stood. Kompany continued to make his feelings known from the touchline and received a yellow card. Soon that could be a blue card and Kompany would be made to sit in the corner for ten minutes facing the wall.
The return of Robertson to the Liverpool starting line-up is a huge boost for Jurgen Klopp. His lung-bursting runs down the wing have been sorely missed. On this occasion he found Nunez in the box, who saw his volley well saved by Trafford.
As Quansah failed to deal with a long ball, Fofana ran through on goal, only to see his shot well saved by Kelleher. The ball broke free to Odobert, who took a touch to control it, before smashing the ball wide of the goal with only defenders on the line. Big chance missed.
The Chelsea loanee was put through again by a neat flick-on, finding himself one on one with the keeper. He tried to slide his shot into the far corner but it was a yard wide of the post. The Clarets cannot say they didn’t have their chances to cause an upset at Anfield.
It was starting to look like Liverpool’s slender lead would not be enough to win this game with Burnley threatening. Elliott clipped a cross into the back post and Nunez adjusted well to direct his header into the back of the net to seal the win.
Liverpool will not be looking at this as a classic performance by any stretch of the imagination but battled through and took all the points. In the process they ensured that they end the weekend back at the top of the table. Burnley head back north wondering what could have been.
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