Liverpool faced off against a weakened Leicester side at the King Power Stadium. The Reds managed to see off the home side after racing ahead to a 2-0 lead in the first half. Liverpool were buzzing and a great first half which saw Sadio Mane finish an Andrew Robertson pull-back in the 10th minute itself. Roberto Firmino scored the second just before halftime when James Milner put one in the box.
FIRST HALF
Leicester had sold Riyad Mahrez to Manchester City and were without Jamie Vardy who had been suspended. Jurgen Klopp dropped Naby Keita for Jordan Henderson which signalled a more defensive approach. He maybe wanted to test his midfield strength in this post-pre season phase. The Reds however looked in no mood to defend as they snatched an early lead against the Foxes.
The defense remained largely untested in the first half and Liverpool looked set for another clean sheet. Mohommad Salah had an unusually quite game as he failed to create or find a lot of space. He had a long range shot parried away by Kasper Schmeichel who had signed a new 5 year contract yesterday. Going into halftime, Jurgen Klopp would have been very happy with his squad who were clearly the better side on all fronts. Claude Puel however, came up with a new plan.
SECOND HALF
Leicester had an amazing second half and could have easily won the match had they not been wasteful with the opportunities presented to them. The Foxes pressed Liverpool incessantly not giving a hint of breathing space to anyone. Wes Morgan wasted a golden opportunity from a cross. Liverpool looked to play the offside trap but instead managed to step up after playing everyone onside. To their luck, Morgan couldn’t manage to sort his feet out in time and the chance was wasted.
The breakthrough came in the 63rd minute when a combined press from the home side forced Van Dijk to go back to his keeper. Alisson however gave the ball away cheaply to Iheanacho as the Brazilian tried a cryuff turn to escape the Kelechi. The turn didn’t come right and Iheanacho squared the ball for Rachid Ghezzal to tap it into an empty net. Joe Gomez made an amazing block from James Madison and showed why he deserves the national call up.
Leicester pressed for an equaliser throughout but couldn’t manage to harm Alisson any furthur who was let off the hook. Had his mistake resulted in Liverpool dropping points, fans would have turned on him despite it only being 4 matches into his Liverpool career.
Liverpool are now on top of the table with 12 points out of 12 and a goal difference of +8. They are not guaranteed to remain there as there are 3 other teams with the same 100% record and the goal difference is not known for them. The Liverpool faithful would be happy with the 100% record going into the international break.
