Liverpool continued their recent run of good form with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Leicester. Mo Salah was once again the hero with two goals, but it was testament to Liverpool’s improvement that they were able to grind out a win, in a game that looked set to go like so many others have this season.
The game started as bad as it could have done for the Reds, as Joel Matip gave the ball away cheaply, and then failed to track the run of Jamie Vardy. Mahrez got in behind Robertson, squared the pass, and Liverpool were one down.
But from that moment on the game was one-way traffic and it looked only a matter of time before the Reds equalised. Salah, who could have scored five on the day, slashed wide inside ten minutes, with Milner unlucky and Mané rightfully having one chalked out for offside as Liverpool barraged Leicester’s goal.
And Salah was always at the heart of it, inexplicably firing wide when in a great position before being desperately close to tapping in after Amartey miscued a clearance from Firmino’s saved shot. Nevertheless, as the first half wore on Liverpool tired, and they looked frustrated at half-time.
But the second half was a fantastic display of grit and quality. In a half of precious few chances, three of them fell to Mo Salah, and he took two of them in emphatic style. There was a touch of luck about the first goal as the ball seemed to leave play, but there was still plenty to do as Mané’s backheel found Salah, and the Egyptian beat two defenders before lashing home to equalise.
Moments later, Salah found himself free in the box again after a wicked ball from Coutinho, but could only chip the ball over the net. Then Mané had another goal rightfully ruled out for offside before in a rare foray forward for the Foxes saw Ndidi fire just wide.
But it was to be Salah’s day, as the Egyptian rolled Harry Maguire and fired handsomely past Kasper Schmeichel to win the game for Liverpool. Whilst his goal, fifteen minutes from time, wasn’t automatically the winner, Liverpool did well to see out a nasty period of the game, in which Leicester attacked and the Reds defended excellently, giving away nothing to the opposition.
This is the sort of victory that Liverpool simply haven’t produced enough of this season. Hard-fought, gritty and, to an extent, clinical. Things didn’t go their way but they kept fighting and produced a hugely important, fantastic win against tricky opposition.
2017 ended up being a very good year for Liverpool Football Club, and it finished on a high. Let’s take that momentum into 2018, and make that a great year.
