What were you worried about, Liverpool fans? Jurgen Klopp’s team will remain top of the Premier League for at least a little while yet after coming from behind to avoid a scare against Luton Town at Anfield.
A depleted Liverpool, with Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez, Trent Alexander-Arnold among a host of leading lights missing through injury, restored their lead over Manchester City at the top of the table to four points thanks to an ultimately comprehensive 4-1 victory.
Chiedozie Ogbene had given Luton the lead but two headed goals in the space of two minutes from Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gakpo turned things around, with Luis Diaz and Harvey Elliott making the result emphatic.
Caoimhe O’Neill breaks down the main talking points from a stirring Liverpool comeback.
Luis Diaz tries and tries again
On a night when Liverpool had Jota, Salah and Nunez all missing, they needed one of their starting forwards to pick up the slack. Diaz, playing alongside Gakpo and Harvey Elliott, eventually provided the requisite quality.
In the first half, Liverpool constantly searched for Diaz who had plenty of space and was the furthest player forward on the left wing, with both Gakpo and Elliott operating a lot deeper.
But when chances fell his way, the Colombia international found it difficult to be clinical. His first opportunity summed up the first 45 minutes: after an outstanding ball over the top from goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, Diaz froze in front of goal, not managing to get a shot off.
By the end of a frustrating half — in which it was the opposing No 7, Ogbene, who showed composure to head Luton into a lead — Diaz had one shot on target, two shots blocked and three off target.
Luis Diaz celebrates scoring – finally – against Luton (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Diaz had three chances in the first six minutes of the second half and if a goal was going to come, it felt like it would arrive on Liverpool’s left through his jinking feet of Diaz. He didn’t just tire himself out but Luton too.
Van Dijk may have made the breakthrough but when another moment again presented itself to Diaz, with Liverpool 2-1 up, he calmly took it. The 27-year-old ran to celebrate with his father Luis Manuel, jumping for joy in the stands.
How did Liverpool turn things around?
What is a captain’s goal if not the one Virgil van Dijk scored to get Liverpool back level in the 56th minute?
Anfield felt like a completely different place as the second half got under way. Liverpool fans knew they had to get behind their team as they trailed 1-0. The noise was incessant before Van Dijk’s bullet header and only got crazier when, 125 seconds later, Gakpo headed Liverpool in front.
Alexis Mac Allister was integral to both goals. The Argentine assisted two headers in two minutes, the first a corner from the right, the second an instinctive smash onto Gakpo’s head cross from just inside the area. Liverpool needed calm in the chaos and Mac Allister put his head above a deafening Anfield parapet to provide it.
Liverpool fans revel in Gakpo’s second goal (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
Liverpool took the brakes off entirely and flew at Luton repeatedly. Eventually, they got their reward with Diaz’s finish make it 3-1 before Elliott rounded things off, with all three of the hosts’ starting forwards getting themselves on the scoresheet.
It was like Liverpool plugged into the crowd’s energy and charged themselves up to a level that had been woefully missing in the first half. After half-time, they played with flair and freedom, but most of all aggression.
Anfield remains a fortress
After Diaz scored to give Liverpool some breathing space, the Kop began to sing “Liverpool, top of the league”. They sang it again when Elliott placed his finish into the top-left corner in stoppage time to make it 4-1. It was a song fans inside Anfield could have sang no matter the result but dropping points at home the night after Manchester City had won was not an option — and they knew it.
Luton have proven to be tricky customers plenty of times this season and forced Liverpool to score a late equaliser to rescue a point in the reverse fixture at Kenilworth Road in November. When Liverpool went 1-0 down tonight, the worry of more dropped points became palpable.
Coming into the game, with 11 first-team players absent, this game felt like a potential banana skin and Liverpool did slip their way around a bit in an underwhelming first half.
Harvey Elliott rounds off the scoring (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
But they prevailed powerfully in the second half. The night began with the extent of the injury crisis facing the club shown up in not just the five teenagers who started on the bench but the fact Liverpool had fielded their youngest starting XI in the Premier League (25 years and 65 days on average) since February 2018.
In the end, though, Liverpool brought three of those teenagers on — Bobby Clark, James McConnell and Jayden Danns, for his Liverpool debut — with the game already wrapped up, something many feared might not be the case at all when they trailed at the break.
They sit four points clear at the top of the table and haven’t lost a game at Anfield since losing to Real Madrid a year ago today.
The Liverpool vs Luton match dashboard shows how Klopp’s side peppered the Luton goal
What did Klopp say?
“It’s one of those nights where it will be difficult to stop talking about it. It just wants to come out of me.
“I’m so happy… The second half was a thunderstorm. Wow! We were undeniable. I love that.”
What next for Liverpool?
Sunday, February 25: Chelsea (Wembley), Carabao Cup final, 3pm GMT, 10am ET
The season’s first trophy is on the line, in a repeat of this competition’s final two years ago — when Liverpool won 11-10 on penalties (Caoimhin Kelleher scored, Kepa Arrizabalaga didn’t) after two goalless hours. More recently, it was 4-1 to Klopp’s men when the sides met at Anfield at the end of January.
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(Top photo: Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
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