9 months ago
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Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images
A look back at the key moments in Liverpool’s nervy victory over Luton in Premier League action.
Liverpool 4 - 1 Luton Town
Liverpool: Van Dijk 56’, Gakpo 58’, Diaz 71’, Elliott 90’
Luton Town: Ogbene 12’
Pre-Match
Things are feeling nervy for Liverpool in the midst of their injury woes. With two of our top goal scorers out of the lineup, and going up against a tough newly promoted side that took two points off of us in the fall is not helping the feeling around this match. Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez both miss out on Wednesday’s match against the hatters, and with the fresh injury to Diogo Jota likely taking him out of the season, its time for our two Dutch goalscorers to step up and take some of the pressure off of Luis Diaz.
First Half
Unlucky is the best way to describe the opening minutes of this match. Liverpool are able to take control quickly, with Harvey Elliott thriving in his more centered role and finding Luis Diaz often who is determined to take over the scoring role for this match.
The inability to capitalize on those early chances came back to bite the Reds in the butt, as Luton opened the scoring with a close range header from Chiedozie Ogbene after Kelleher was able to save an effort from Tahith Chong, but the rebound went right to Ogbene’s area. Despite mostly controlling the match, one slip by Liverpool and Luton were able to take advantage and build a little of their confidence.
Luis Diaz continued to take shot after shot with every chance he got, racking up six shots in the first half, but not a single one has been able to find the back of the net. Harvey Elliott even takes an attempt at the encouraging of the crowd, but his effort goes skyward instead of, well, netward. Luton seem content to defend at this point as they already have the lead and who can blame them? They’re looking to make actual history by winning at Anfield for the first time in their history.
Second Half
The second half starts with no changes, and much the same energy. Wataru Endo and Alexis MacAllister have done a really great job of managing the midfield recycling for Harvey Elliott to be able to be the more creative piece. Diaz is also back on his shooting bullshit, but unable to find the goal somehow, either just by bad luck or Luton’s defending. Alfie Doughty in particular has made things difficult on the right side for young Conor Bradley.
Cody Gakpo finally has a good look at goal but effort is saved easily by Luton Town’s keeper That doesn’t stop the Reds, as they win a corner and VIRGIL VAN DIJK GETS HIS HEAD ON IT FOR A GOAL! Not even two minutes later, Liverpool go for a throw in and catch the Hatters off guard just enough for Gakpo to take the keeper by surprise and give Liverpool the lead!
Liverpool now have the unenviable task of maintaining that lead, the most dangerous of all leads, but they’ve been more than capable this second half. This season’s second half performances have made all the difference and it seems we’re in the midst of yet another exciting one. Around the 65th minute, there had been 41 touches for Liverpool in the Luton box, whereas Luton had had 9 in the Liverpool box.
Andy Robertson comes in the 67th minute, replacing Conor Bradley in the interest of saving the youngster’s legs for Sunday, and moving Joe Gomez from left to right. To be fair, this is the time we’d be making some more changes but there’s not a lot to be offered from the bench today. Liverpool are in full control, still, winning a throw in that we’ve seen Luton is vulnerable with. So then Diaz, FINALLY GETS HIS GOAL, making it 3 for the hosts in the 71st minute. It’s almost like the lads we have that are uninjured (touch wood) are still pretty good and pretty well equipped to do the job.
Oh and one more thing? HARVEY ELLIOTT MAKES IT FOUR.
Final Thoughts
Liverpool did the thing! Despite going down early, once again, due to a defensive slip, Liverpool took full control of the match and scored three, including two in the span of two minutes. This gives them a little more breathing room at the top of the table going into the cup final weekend, and a little less pressure on the uninjured guys to perform while the others are away.
