Burnley nabbed an undeserved second half equalizer to frustrate record-chasing Liverpool, who dropped points for the first time at Anfield this season. Andy Robertson headed(!) the Reds in front, before Jay Rodriguez’s volley. The result means Liverpool need three wins out of three to beat Man City’s 100 point record. But what were the key stats from the 1-1 draw?
Oh Andy Andy
With Trent Alexander-Arnold having such a strong season, it’s gone a little under the radar how good Robertson has been too. He scored a very important goal against Villa, and has added to his tally with his second headed goal of the season (the only defender with more is VVD with 4) and has also contributed a crucial nine assists to go with the eleven he contributed last year. Only Trent and Kevin De Bruyne have more Premier League assists.
We Need To Talk About Bobby
Either side of lockdown, Roberto Firmino has been in worrying form. He’s now ten league games without a goal or assist, creating just five chances in nine games before today. He hasn’t created a big chance since his hat-trick of assists against Southampton at the start of February, and he’s now 12 league games without a goal, missing over five expected goals worth of chances in that period.
His problems scoring at Anfield are well documented, but overall it’s been a shocking season in front of goal from Bobby – scoring just eight goals from 16.28 xG. He’s had significantly more xG than Mané yet scored half as many goals.
It is true that he does so much more for this team than just score goals, and it is also very true that Liverpool haven’t needed his goals to succeed. But it’s also true that Firmino has missed an absolute bucketload of good chances and wasted a lot of chances this season, and that his finishing has been a problem.
Bad Luck Strikes – For The First Time
If you’re going to have a game where you get very unlucky and get done, then it’s better to happen when you’ve already won the league. Liverpool got hit hard by a bad referee, a stunning performance from Nick Pope, and the finishing pixie working against them. Mo Salah missed 1.15 xG including two big chances, whilst Burnley scored a sensational goal from a 70 yard pump up field off a free-kick that they shouldn’t have been given, whilst Liverpool were denied several penalties.
However, this is the first time this season that Liverpool have dropped points despite having an xG over 1 xG higher than their opponent. They have previously won three games with lower xG than their opponents, but this is the first time they have failed to win a game that they on balance deserved to.
