The goals didn’t flow as expected, but Liverpool won’t care as they racked up a sixth straight Premier League victory with a 1-0 win over Brentford on Saturday. There was a double cause for celebration for Mo Salah, who notched his 100th Liverpool goal at Anfield – it wasn’t his most aesthetically-pleasing, but his bundled effort in the 13th minute was enough to see off the gutsy Brentford.
The win is the thing, but Liverpool were somewhat fortunate to come away from Wednesday’s meeting with Fulham with all three points. Aside from Mo Salah’s 39th minute penalty, which turned out to be the winning goal in the 1-0 victory, Liverpool only really created one goalscoring chance of note – the Egyptian himself failing to register when well-placed after 17 minutes.
In our preview of the game, we’d mentioned that Tottenham’s habit of getting off to a slow start was an area that Liverpool could look to exploit. But even we were surprised that the Reds romped into a 3-0 lead after just 15 minutes! A week after they found themselves 0-5 down to Newcastle after just 20 minutes, Spurs were in a similarly hopeless predicament at Anfield as Liverpool came out of the blocks sharply.
Liverpool took another step towards an unlikely top-four finish in the Premier League with a 2-1 win over West Ham on Wednesday. It was a cut-and-paste performance from the Reds, who were once again dangerous in attack and created a number of high-probability chances.
Nottingham Forest gave it a right good go at Anfield on Saturday, but they found Liverpool’s attacking players just too hot to handle. Diogo Jota is emerging as a real star in these last weeks of the season, and he was at the double as the Reds scored a 3-2 victory that was perhaps more comfortable than the scoreline suggests.
Liverpool seized upon the brilliance of their second-half showing against Arsenal to hit Leeds United for six on Monday evening. The Reds blitzed the Gunners for 45 minutes of their 2-2 draw with a show of classic attacking aggression that Anfield supporters have become accustomed to under Jurgen Klopp. And they carried that with them across the Pennines on Monday as they blitzed relegation-threatened Leeds 6-1.
If any game sums up the Jekyll & Hyde nature of Liverpool’s season, it was the 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Sunday. Armchair spectators were treated to one of the most entertaining Premier League games of the season so far, while Reds fans inside Anfield witnessed the most ‘football is a game of two halves’ performance since the phrase was coined.
Once upon a time winning a point at Stamford Bridge would have been classed as a decent result. These days? Not so much.
But Liverpool should cling heartily to the point earned from the 0-0 draw with Chelsea on Tuesday evening as they were thoroughly outplayed from the get-go.
Despite taking an early lead against Manchester City on Saturday, Jurgen Klopp would later admit that Liverpool were ‘lucky’ not to concede more as Pep Guardiola’s men rallied to deliver a 4-1 hammering. The Reds were once again cruelly exposed by an opponent that attacks with numbers at pace, with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson in particular left vulnerable as those in red shirts went walkabouts in front of them.
They say that a change is as good as a rest. Jurgen Klopp will be hoping that, this time, a rest is as good as a change as he prepares Liverpool for their first competitive game in some 17 days.