Liverpool, with many casualties, including those at the last minute of Mohamed Salah and Darwin Núñez, saved the dangerous visit of Luton Town, overcame the ‘Hatters’ and extended their lead in the Premier League for at least two more weeks (4-1 ).
The ‘Reds’, who had ten players missing from the first team and even had to call up a 16-year-old boy for the bench, overcame Chiedozie Ogbene’s early goal in the second half with goals, two set up by Alexis Mac Allister , by Virgil Van Dijk, Cody Gakpo, Harvey Elliott and Luis Díaz, the best of the match.
At the beginning of the season, Liverpool would have marked this match against the newly promoted Luton as three safe points, but the list of casualties distorted Klopp’s gesture and gave birth to an emergency line-up, with a trident formed by Harvey Elliott, Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo.
The Colombian could have told a different story from the beginning and have avoided the emergencies if he had taken advantage of a one-on-one or a shot at will that he had in the first five minutes, but Luton, in their first steps in their history at Anfield, took the momentary chime.
From a throw-in, Rob Edwards’ men invented a goal. Cauley Woodrow kept the ball with his back to the goal, left it to Tahith Chong, who was running, and the Dutchman, a former United player, finished hard so that Caoimhin Kelleher could only touch it and not block it.
The ball, flying, reached the far post, where Chiedozie Ogbene got ahead of Joe Gómez and made the surprising 0-1 in Liverpool.
The ‘Reds’ put all the responsibility for the goal on Luis Díaz, but the Colombian, no matter how hard he tried, did not stop making mistakes. He of all colors, diving into the area, whipping from outside, trying to dribble along the baseline. The Colombian shot six times in half an hour and carried the equipment on his back. Unsuccessfully.
Liverpool, during a desperate first half, missed Darwin, Diogo Jota and, above all, Salah, for whom every ‘Red’ fan has already set a candle so that he arrives on time for the Cup final. the League this Sunday against Chelsea.
And Liverpool was saved this Wednesday by one of those non-tangible weapons of football, the heart.
In front of ‘The Kop’, his legendary stands, he turned around the defeat in two minutes and with two assists from Alexis Mac Allister. The Argentine served the corner that Virgil Van Dijk headed for 1-1 and put Cody Gakpo’s header to make it 2-1. The rushing start bore fruit before the 60th minute.
Liverpool did not want to stop there, spurred on by their fans, they smelled blood and killed the game through Luis Díaz. The Colombian retaliated after a gift from the Luton defense and an assist from Andy Robertson that left him inside the area.
In the race, he showed the ball to the defender, hid it, faked it and scored against Kaminski’s stick. A great goal that was well celebrated by his father in the stands and that certified that the three points would not leave Anfield. The victory was rounded off by Elliott in added time.
Liverpool will continue to lead this weekend, despite not playing in the cup final. The ‘Reds’ have 60 points (and one more game), while City are left with 56 and Arsenal with 55.
Luton, which emerged from relegation for a few minutes, remains in eighteenth position, with 20 points, the same as Everton, but with a worse goal difference.
– Datasheet:
4 – Liverpool: Kelleher; Bradley (Robertson, m.67), Quansah, Van Dijk, Gomez; Mac Allister (McConnell, m.89), Endo, Gravenberch (Clark, m.78); Elliott, Gakpo y Díaz (Danns, m.88).
1 – Luton Town: Kaminski; Ogbene, Mengi, Osho, Bell, Doughty (Kabore, m.75); Like (Space, m.46), Barkley; Morris, Chong (Clark, m.63) and Woodrow (Townsend, m.58).
Goals: 0-1, m.13: Defeated. 1-1, m.57: Van Dijk. 2-1, m.58: Steel. 3-1, m.71: Diaz. 4-1, m.90: Elliott.
Referee: Andrew Madley. He admonished Gomez (m.82) for Liverpool and Doughty (m.19), Woodrow (m.42), Barkley (m.77) and Kaboré (m.90) for Luton Town.
Incidents: Match corresponding to matchday 26 of the Premier League played at the Anfield stadium (Liverpool). EFE
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