Jürgen Klopp relied on a couple of his Liverpool stars to get the job done on a productive evening in Burnley. (Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Boxing Day is always better than Christmas Day anyway. The leftovers mean it’s all the same food, but with none of the stress — and while it might have come a day late, Liverpool got the present it wanted, moving to the top of the pile in the Premier League.
Arsenal will have the chance to reclaim that place tomorrow, and can extend its lead on New Years’ Eve, playing twice before Liverpool is in action again. But with Aston Villa relinquishing a two-goal advantage to lose to Manchester United, Jürgen Klopp’s side is carving out a space for itself at the summit.
It wasn’t the most convincing of wins, with Liverpool failing to truly build on an early Darwin Núñez goal until Diogo Jota wrapped things up in stoppage time. But the Reds were always on top, and came away with the three points despite being on the wrong end of a couple of controversial decisions.
With this expected to be the penultimate game before Mohamed Salah departs for the African Cup of Nations, Liverpool now prepares for a new challenge without its talisman, during which time Klopp will hope to book his side’s place in a final, progress in the FA Cup and stay in touch at the top of the league. Here’s what Liverpool.com learned and what you might have missed.
One thing we learned
We can’t quite go as far as to now declare that Liverpool will be fine during Salah’s AFCON absence, as the Reds toiled in their attempts to put the game away. But ultimately, Salah was a part of those struggles, and the ones who did find the net were Núñez and Jota.
Both will grow in prominence while Salah is away in January. Jota’s return could not have been better-timed, while Klopp will be hoping against hope that this is the start of some goal-scoring form for Núñez.
Certainly, Liverpool’s attack is not a lost cause without Salah. Klopp has spent the last couple of years assembling a front line that will ultimately carry on without him, and they stepped up a week early here.
Biggest takeaway
This game marked the halfway mark of Liverpool’s season, and the biggest takeaway is that Liverpool is legitimately in the hunt for the title. There have been a couple of stutters at Anfield recently, but the Reds remain unbeaten there, and in the meantime away form has picked up in a big way.
This win marked the third straight league victory on the road for Liverpool. Incredibly, in fact, the Reds have at least temporarily moved to the top of the away table, albeit having played a game more than most of the rest of the division. Spurs currently sits second, with Arsenal in third, both having been leapfrogged.
Picking up points home and away, Liverpool is finding ways to grind out results. With many of the toughest away fixtures already out of the way, Klopp will be pleased with how things stand.
A moment you might have missed
There was no shortage of refereeing controversies, and Paul Tierney and co. can probably be thankful that Liverpool managed to find a way to win in spite of them. Vincent Kompany came close to admitting that the second disallowed goal was fortunate for his side, with Salah having clearly been pushed into an offside position, while the first one saw Núñez penalized for a foul that was soft at best.
But in among all that, another controversy very nearly took center stage. Wataru Endō might have been tipped as a Man of the Match contender by Klopp, but he nearly cost Liverpool the three points, when he gave away possession in an awful area at 1-0.
But it came straight after a foul on Joe Gomez. Recognized by Tierney, advantage was played — and his arm was still out to signal that when Endō turned the ball over. Yet rather than bring it back, the referee decided that advantage was over, and allowed Burnley to play on.
Fortunately, the chance was blazed over the top. But this would have been yet another contentious refereeing moment if Burnley had made more of it.
