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Key events
18 mins: Robertson crosses, but the referee thinks Nunez fouled Vestergaard in attempting to win it. Meanwhile, it looks to me like the fog has thickened in the last few minutes.
16 mins: A wacky corner routine from Liverpool, who stick all their players on the far side of the penalty area until the very last moment, when they burst infield. It doesn’t help them.
14 mins: Alexander-Arnold’s cross is headed behind by Justin at the far post, with Gakpo lurking behind him unmarked and preparing to turn it in.
12 mins: Another chance for Liverpool! Again it comes from a left-wing cross. Nunez meets it on the edge of the six-yard box, but his header bounces wide.
10 mins: From the corner Justin wins the header but sends it straight into a defender. It looks to the edge of the area, from where it’s volleyed way over the bar.
10 mins: Now Leicester have a corner. Have they not read the script?
GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Leicester (Ayew, 6 mins)
Leicester have only gone and scored! Mavididi runs down the left and crosses low, somehow it runs through to Jordan Ayew in the middle, and he turns and shoots just inside the near post!
6 mins: Actually it’s Stolarczyk who stops Jones from scoring, diving to his right and throwing out a glove to push the ball off his toe and between his legs. So a very impressive and important first intervention for the Polish debutant.
5 mins: Then it looked like Curtis Jones would turn in the rebound but the ball got stuck between his legs, and Leicester survive for now.
4 mins: Chance! A crossfield pass from Trent, a fine cross from Gakpo, and Salah’s far-post volley is saved by Stolarczyk!
2 mins: Liverpool instantly take control. Eventually they lose possession and Leicester launch the ball upfield towards Patson Daka, who is beaten to it by a defender. There might be a lot of forlorn running to come for the visitors’ lone striker.
1 min: Peeeeeeep! Liverpool get the game going.
The coin is tossed, and Leicester obviously win because the players proceed to switch sides, with Liverpool thus shooting towards the Kop end in the first half.
The players are out! We are just a couple of minutes away from football o’clock.
Curiously the Guardian’s report on the match against Aldershot mentioned by Tom Gould does not at any stage mention fog or visibility issues. It does criticise “a pitch that did no service to football and … defied all attempts at elegant play”, though.
It’s still very foggy at Anfield. No suggestion the game might be in doubt, but you never know.
Meanwhile, an email! “I attended the FA Cup game against Aldershot in 1971,” writes Tom Gould. “The fog was so thick that from my position on The Kop it was impossible to see beyond the six-yard line. Inevitably the only goal of the game was scored at the Anfield Road end, it was possible to hear a roar coming through the fog but without any idea of what inspired it. The fans at the other end started singing 1-0, The Kop responded with ‘who scored’, the reply ‘John McLaughlin’ .Cue wild celebrations in The Kop. Was it a good goal? Don’t know, you’ll have to ask someone who was in the Anfield Road end.”
Hearty recommend for this here Jonathan Wilson Liverpool-focused piece, published t’other day:
Wolves have beaten 10-man Manchester United 2-0, and as a result they move up to 17th, and Leicester drop into the bottom three.
Andy Hunter listened to what Arne Slot had to say ahead of this fixture. And this is what he heard:
Arne Slot has said his experience of facing Ruud van Nistelrooy in the Netherlands, plus Liverpool’s brief drop-off against Tottenham, ensures Leicester will not be underestimated at Anfield on Boxing Day.
The Liverpool head coach was unable to beat Van Nistelrooy’s PSV when guiding Feyenoord to the Eredivisie title in 2022-23, drawing 2-2 at home and losing 4-3 away. PSV were one of only two teams to defeat Feyenoord in a season when Slot’s side won the league by seven points from their closest challengers from Eindhoven.
Much more here:
It’s been a bit foggy on Merseyside today, but visibility is just good enough for the game to go ahead.
The same was not true when Tranmere were supposed to play Accrington Stanley a little earlier:
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Do they know it’s Christmas, part II. Ruud van Nistelrooy agrees with Slot: “As a manager, you’re busy working and sometimes you forget that it’s Christmas,” he sniffs.
Meanwhile, asked about the decision to throw Jakub Stolarczyk into the team, after Danny Ward was booed by his own fans during the defeat to Wolves, he says: “It’s not ideal, but the circumstances with Wardy were intense, we all felt it, and it puts you in a position where you have to make decisions.”
Do they know it’s Christmas? Not if they’re football managers they don’t. “You don’t know it’s Christmas, as a manager,” Arne Slot says. “If you told me it was October I probably would believe you.”
Also from Slot, this word of caution: “We play really well at the moment but City, two months ago they were playing so well and look where they are now.”
The teams!
Today’s line-ups. Darwin Nunez leads the line for Liverpool, while Curtis Jones replaces Szoboszlai. No Jamie Vardy for Leicester, and Jakub Stolarczyk makes a first start in goal:
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Salah, Jones, Gakpo, Nunez. Subs: Kelleher, Endo, Diaz, Szoboszlai, Chiesa, Elliott, Jota, Tsimikas, Quansah.
Leicester: Stolarczyk, Justin, Coady, Vestergaard, Kristiansen, Winks, Soumare, Ayew, El Khannous, Mavididi, Daka. Subs: Iversen, Okoli, De Cordova-Reid, Choudhury, Skipp, Edouard, Thomas, Alves, Buonanotte.
Referee: Darren Bond.
Hello world!
It has been a very good Boxing Day for Liverpool so far: Chelsea lost at home, Manchester City didn’t win (and neither did Everton) and Arsenal play tomorrow, all of which adds up to an opportunity to go seven points clear of Chelsea (with a game in hand), eight clear of Nottingham Forest (likewise) and nine clear of Arsenal (without one) if they manage to do to Leicester what they did the last time the Foxes played at Anfield, and the time before that, and the time before that, and indeed what they have done on eight of the last 10 occasions they’ve turned up, and beat them (they drew the other two).
Discouragingly (for the visitors) Leicester’s only away win this season came at Southampton in October. They have lost seven and won one of 10 games in all competitions since then and their form in the last eight league games is so bad they haven’t even got more points than Manchester City (both have five and are, on points at least, joint 18th in a last-eight-games table; talking of 18 that’s how many points Liverpool have, making it yet another table they are top of).
A little surprisingly, Liverpool only have a 55% top-at-Christmas-to-league-title conversion rate (before the advent of the Premier League they were rolling merrily at a 71.4% conversion rate, but that’s dropped to 16.7%, aka one from six, since 1992). That’s actually a slight overperformance: the all-time top-flight top-at-Christmas-to-league-title conversion rate is 44%, and the all-time Premier League figure is precisely 50%.
We’re almost exactly five months from finding out how this season will end, with the final day inked in for 25 May. Could tonight see another giant leap in a glorious direction for Arne Slot’s high-fliers? We’ll soon find out!
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