Your morning Liverpool headlines for Saturday, December 31.
Liverpool's luck may have just changed after £40m deal and exciting Jurgen Klopp hint
In a season where Liverpool have been able to justifiably bemoan at least some bad luck, was this the game when it all changed?
General underperformance has been the root cause behind their relatively lowly Premier League position but a number of questionable VAR calls and, more pertinently, a litany of injury problems have contributed also.
But on a night when Jurgen Klopp's men were nowhere near the best, they were still able to toast to three vitally important points as Anfield welcomed back the Reds after nearly seven weeks away. It was not quite a glorious homecoming, but victory was theirs.
READ MORE: Kelly Cates questions Gary Neville over controversial transfer claim on Cody Gakpo
READ MORE: Brentford rocked by potential big injury blow ahead of Liverpool game
The name Wout Faes might not have been one supporters will have been overly familiar with before Friday, but the Leicester defender perversely wrote his name into folklore with two comical own goals that were enough to see Klopp's men move to within two points of the top four.
Read the full story, here.
Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville make Jude Bellingham transfer claim during Liverpool midfield debate
Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville highlighted Liverpool's midfield issues once again after another struggle in the 2-1 win at home to Leicester on Friday evening.
The Reds closed the gap from Tottenham Hotspur in fourth to just two points, thanks to a pair of Wout Faes own-goals. It was a far from vintage performance from Jurgen Klopp's side, and the problems in midfield - which have been present throughout the season - were highlighted inside four minutes when Kieran Dewsbury-Hall raced through a gaping whole to slot the opener past Alisson Becker.
The ease with which the Foxes man raced through midfield was symptomatic of a campaign in which Liverpool have been uncharacteristically leggy in the middle of the park. Friday evening's game was not helped by the absence of Fabinho - away for the imminent birth of his first child - but typified a position in Klopp's typically relentless energy has been missing.
And, speaking after the result on Friday, Carragher and Neville highlighted the shortcomings in the Liverpool midfield.
"They are getting played through and there is too much space in and around them, that’s something they’ll look at but they’re digging results out," Neville told Sky Sports . "The balance of midfield isn’t right, they have injuries but it’s something they’ll have to deal with. Liverpool were a ferocious team out of possession, brilliant in possession, there’s something they were doing a couple of years ago which they aren't doing now.
Read the full story, here.
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