By: Shane Brennan.
Liverpool travelled to Turf Moor on Sunday afternoon to face bottom club Burnley, The Reds knew that this was a must win game if they were to keep their title hopes alive.
Liverpool started well and with good purpose in their play passing the ball proving for an opening, but it was Burnley who had the first real chance of the game when Burnley’s new signing Wout Weghorst found Josh Brownhill, who unleashed a super shot that had Alisson Becker sprawling down to his left to make a fine save.
Then it was Liverpool’s turn to spring forward on the break with Andy Robertson picking out Sadio Mane who ran into the Burnley box and laid the ball back to the edge of the area for Naby Keita to let fly and produce a great save from Nick Pope.
From the resulting corner, The Clarets hit Liverpool on the break Jay Rodriguez and Weghorst were racing forward, Rodriguez laid the ball off to Weghorst as he bared down on Alisson, but as per usual these days Alisson made himself big to put the imposing striker off as the Netherlands international put his shot off target, and Trent Alexander-Arnold was on hand to complete the clearance, to keep Liverpool in it in what was proving to be a tricky assignment for The Reds, as the wind swirled and the rain pelted down, as Burnley grew in confidence.
Liverpool Knew they were in a huge battle, and the going was proving to be so though that Jordan Henderson tackled Erik Pieters and ended up hurting himself, and to compound his misery he got booked for his efforts.
From the resulting free kick another huge chance was to come Burnley’s way, as the ball bounced off Virgil Van Dijk found its way to Rodriguez, but luckily Alisson was there once again to smother the chance, and stop a determined Burnley side on their tracks.
Then Liverpool had a massive opportunity when Alexander-Arnold whipped in a pin point free kick, it found Mane, but he was only able to strike the ball straight at Pope, as Liverpool kept plugging away in hot pursuit of the opener.
Burnley were to have yet another opportunity, as a long ball was punted forward, it managed to miss Van Dijk totally and this in turn left Weghorst clean through on goal, thankfully Burnley’s new signing was not able to oblige, as he hit his shot well wide of the target.
After what was a really hard first 40 minutes at the office for The Reds they managed to make a break through from a corner, when Alexander-Arnold’s ball found Mane as free as a bird in the area, he nodded the ball down for Fabinho, who needed to bites of the cherry to force the ball into the back of the net, as Burnley’s resistance was broken.
The first real chance of the second half came The Clarets way when Weghorst took on a rasping shot from distance, which brought about a simple enough save for Liverpool’s Brazilian stopper.
In a second half of very few chances, towards the end of the game Andy Robertson crossed the ball for Roberto Firmino for a free header, but he could only put his attempt over the crossbar. This chance was swiftly followed by Fabinho playing Mohamed Salah through on goal, he managed to find Diogo Jota in space for a shot on goal, but un characteristically he could only scuff his shot, thanks to a suburb last ditch tackle from James Tarkowski.
Liverpool hung on for what could prove to be a massive 3 points come the end of the season, but in truth this was a game that will not live long in the memory.
Up next for Liverpool is a trip to The San Siro to face Inter Milan on Wednesday evening as The Champions League resumes.
By: Shane Brennan.
