Liverpool 3-0 Leicester City: Injury-ravaged Reds impress to leapfrog Foxes

Liverpool defied their injury woes again with a dominant 3-0 win against Leicester City to rise above them in the Premier League table and extend their home unbeaten run to a record 64 league games.

Despite the international break adding the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez and Jordan Henderson to their long list of absentees, the home side showed no sign of being fazed by it.

A couple of fantastic saves from Kasper Schmeichel should have been wake-up calls for the Leicester defence but Jonny Evans’ own goal in the 21st minute showed that they were still fast asleep.

The Northern Irish centre-back was too busy wrestling with Sadio Mane in the penalty area to notice where the ball was when James Milner whipped in a corner and it went in off the back of his head.

The home side doubled their lead in the 41st minute after a wonderful passing move that started with Curtis Jones in midfield and ended with the onrushing Diogo Jota heading the ball into the back of the net from a fizzed Andy Robertson cross.

Leicester had a few half-chances of their own on the counter-attack but they will be relieved to not have lost by even more goals, especially considering how many times Liverpool hit the woodwork or had the ball cleared off the line in the second half.

However, the Reds sealed the win when the unmarked Roberto Firmino headed home a Milner corner in the 86th minute to make it three.

They will be playing host to Atlanta in the Champions League on Wednesday night before travelling to Brighton for their next Premier League fixture at the weekend, whereas the Foxes have a midweek Europa League match away to Braga before their weekend game against Fulham.

Many raised their eyebrows when Diogo Jota joined Liverpool from Wolves in September for £41million plus add-ons. While some fans saw the need for an extra rotation option to supplement their front three, spending that much money on someone who only scored seven Premier League goals the previous season and was potentially losing his starting place at Wolves to Daniel Podence seemed to be a rare misstep for Liverpool’s sporting director Michael Edwards.

However, the Portuguese international has added even more star quality to one of world football’s strongest attacks and rather than simply easing the burden on Firmino, who last season struggled to convert his chances at Anfield, he has likely surpassed the Brazilian in the pecking order at the club, for now at least. That is thanks to his four goals in his first four home league games – something that no Liverpool player had ever achieved before. His usefulness to the team is benefited by the fact that he is more adept at playing centrally than Mane and Salah, yet is equally as comfortable as them playing out wide or even behind the striker.

If this rich vein of form…