Liverpool vs Leicester City Report

Scorers: Gakpo 45+1’, Jones 49’, Salah 82’; Ayew 6’

Liverpool battled from a goal behind to beat Leicester City 3-1 and stretch their lead at the Premier League summit to an impressive seven points, extending their brilliant Boxing Day form with an eighth consecutive win on the day.

Table-topping Liverpool to beat relegation battling Leicester was the banker of the Premier League’s Boxing Day fixture card, but the form book was thrown out the window in the opening exchanges.

The fearless Foxes went on the offensive from the get-go and took a surprise lead when Stephy Mavididi’s marauding run down the left ended with him finding Jordan Ayew in the box, who fired into the bottom corner on the swivel.

Liverpool needn’t have panicked too much as Leicester have infamously given goals up with ease lately, and only the post kept their clean sheet intact when Andy Robertson’s header cannoned back off the upright.

You’d have been forgiven for expecting a better response than the one Liverpool offered, as they were poor throughout, but their magic man Mo Salah almost drew them level at the break, when on the stroke of HT, he curled an effort off the top of the crossbar.

There was still time for one more attack though, and that one yielded the Reds’ leveller, when another curling effort, this time from Cody Gakpo, nestled into the far corner.

Slot’s side were firmly in the ascendancy from that point onwards and hit the front within five minutes of the restart when Curtis Jones turned home Alexis Mac Allister’s driven cross, although there was an anxious wait to find out if the goal would stand after a lengthy VAR check.

Chris Kavanagh was being kept busy at Stockley Park, as another long VAR check was needed to confirm that Gakpo’s second goal of the evening wouldn’t stand, with a Darwin Núñez offside in the build up denying the Dutchman another goal against his former boss.

It wouldn’t be a Liverpool game at the moment without Salah getting in on the act, and true to form, he did do eventually, curling home the hosts’ third, and his 100th home Premier League goal of his career.

That was the perfect way to round off another perfect evening for Slot’s men, in which they took full advantage of Chelsea’s earlier slip-up to create yet more daylight in the title race.

The picture is much bleaker for Leicester though, who after Wolves’ win against Manchester United, find themselves in the bottom three once again.

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Liverpool v Leicester, 2024/25 | Premier League