Leicester City 1 - 0 Liverpool FC

The Foxes: Lookman 59’

Pre-Match

Liverpool go strong as captain Jordan Henderson and Fabinho return to the starting line-up, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain joining them in midfield. Also Virgil van Dijk makes a welcomed return after his COVID layoff and Klopp rides again with Salah, Mané, and Jota up top.

Leicester, unlike Liverpool, are coming off a short rest. Let’s smash ‘em.

First Half

The opening few minutes are a bit cagey, but not without incident. Joel Matip goes into the book in just the fourth minute for a clumsy challenge that prevented a counterattack. Not ideal for the veteran defender.

Penalty! Mo gets tripped up in the box and Michael Oliver points to the spot!

Missed. Schmeichel guesses correctly and Mo nearly heads in the rebound, but can only clatter it off the post. Match remains scoreless.

Despite the setback, Liverpool are right back on the attack. They are absolutely bossing things at the King Power in the early stages.

Jota has had a disappointing first half by his lofty standards. He’s not been as involved as you’d want to see, and he’s not done much with the opportunities he has had in and around the box. Tsimikas has also left a lot to be desired with his crossing, despite repeatedly getting into great positions in space.

Leicester haven’t gotten much of a sniff this half, but they’re having a late flurry as we approach the end of the half. Liverpool might just need to ride this out and regroup at halftime. Also, another Naby Keita second half demolition job wouldn’t go under appreciated.

Second Half

Jamie Vardy starts the half by booting Joel Matip and I am unhappy right now.

Klopp has seen enough, or rather not enough, and Keita is getting ready to come on after just 10 minutes gone in the half. He will replace Ox.

Goal. These are the kinds of things that can happen if the match remains scoreless for as long as it has. Leicester fashioned themselves their first halfway decent chance of the match and slotted it.

The Reds are up against it now. If Liverpool fail to win today, it won’t be from a lack of opportunities. Salah’s missed pen immediately comes to mind, but Mané also spurned a phenomenal 1-v-1 chance just prior to Leicester’s goal.

Klopp responds to the goal by bringing on James Milner for Fabinho. So that happened. Maybe it was a planned sub? And a few minutes later Bobby Firmino comes on for Hendo. That’s more like it. No midfield. Just vibes.

Liverpool keep pressing for a goal, but they’re not getting particularly close. Jota just recorded Liverpool’s first shot since Sadio’s big miss, a header off a corner that went wide. Not great, Reds.

Final Thoughts and Man of the Match

Sometimes it’s not one of those days. Today was not one of those days. Missed chances and a missed pen. A pretty turgid second half. And conceding a pretty soft goal. A title challenge is looking increasingly unlikely for the Reds this season. Sigh.