Leicester 0 Liverpool 1: Reds just one win away from Premier League title after Trent Alexander-Arnold winner
TRENT ALEXANDER-ARNOLD might not be around when Liverpool defend their Premier League title.
But the Scouse full-back sent his team to the very brink of winning it when he drilled home the late winner which broke Leicester’s resistance and confirmed their relegation.
Alexander-Arnold was only five minutes into his comeback from injury, replacing Conor Bradley after a five-match absence with an ankle injury, when he drilled home the shot which left the Reds needing just three points from being rubber-stamped as champions.
The England defender is expected to join Real Madrid when his contract expires at the end of the season but he took full advantage of this opportunity to celebrate this impending triumph.
After thumping shot straight through the previously-excellent Leicester keepers Mads Hermansen, Alexander-Arnold ripped off his shirt and kicked the corner flag before he cavorted in front of the travelling Red Army.
There has been much debate among Liverpool fans about whether Alexander-Arnold should have been ditched by Arne Slot for the temerity of wanting to leave Anfield.
But those who followed their team to the King Power were jubilant when he leathered home his 76th-minute shot after a goalmouth scramble.
As for Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s Leicester, they showed the sort of application which they had required several months as their second relegation in three seasons was confirmed with five games still to go.
Only the haplessness of rock-bottom Southampton has spared the Foxes from greater ignominy because this was as their ninth straight home defeat without them managing a single goal – although Conor Coady had a header disallowed and Wilfred Ndidi hit the post.
Arsenal‘s thumping of Ipswich earlier in the afternoon meant there could be no title party, at least until midweek, and probably not until Liverpool host Tottenham next Sunday.
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Leicester‘s relegation had been all but mathematically confirmed by Wolves winning at Manchester United.
But given that Van Nistelrooy’s side hadn’t scored a single Premier League goal at home this year, it was all looking pretty inevitable anyway.
Inside three minutes, Luis Diaz released Salah, whose shot cannoned off the inside of both posts.
Then a remarkable thing happened – Leicester almost scored, Ndidi drilling a shot against an upright with Alisson rooted.
Liverpool broke immediately and this time Salah’s shot was pushed out by an alert Hermansen.
In keeping with this underwhelming Prem season, a clash between a team on the cusp of the title and another on the brink of relegation was being played out amid the atmosphere of a pre-season friendly.
Liverpool’s supporters were having a nice sing-song in the corner but their team, unimpressive in recent weeks, were struggling to find their true tempo.
A bizarre dummy from Coady in his own penalty area allowed Diaz to centre for a Cody Gakpo header which Hermansen kept out – as he did with a Gakpo cross-shot which threatened to loop inside his far post.
Then from a Kostas Tsimikas centre, Salah couldn’t keep down his close-range volley with the goal gaping.
A plane flew over the stadium, trailing a protest banner reading ‘King Power Clueless, Sack The Board’.
But down on terra firma, Leicester were carrying out a passable impression of a competent football team.
After the break, Dominik Szoboszlai had a shot repelled by Hermansen and a Diaz effort was blocked.
Then Bradley burst forward from right-back and teed up Diaz, who volleyed over at the near post.
Slot’s men were doing a better job of pinning back their hosts but there was still no way through – one excellent passing move ending with Hermansen off his line to block a Tsimikas shot.
Next, Salah turned his man and curled one past the far post and after an hour the shot count read 19-2 yet the scoreline remained goalless.
Slot sent on Diogo Jota in place of Gakpo, while Van Nistelrooy withdrew an anonymous Jamie Vardy and sent on Patson Daka.
A Stephy Mavididi back-heel caused Bradley to kick out and earn a booking and soon Leicester did something truly extraordinary – they put the ball in the Liverpool net.
Not that Conor Coady’s header counted, due to Daka’s shove on Alisson but for a second or so, Foxes fans felt the bliss of their team scoring at home.
Ref Stuart Attwell was not endearing himself to the home supporters, turning down a penalty shout for a challenge on Daka, then awarding Liverpool a questionable free-kick outside the Leicester box.
After Harvey Elliott arrived as sub, Attwell even things up a bit by refusing to award a corner when the England Under-21 star’s shot took a massive deflection.
But then came Alexander-Arnold’s moment.
From a Tsimikas corner, Salah headed against the post, then Jota fired against the bar before Alexander-Arnold’s shot finally beat Hermansen.
Facundo Buonanotte screwed a shot wide when well placed but Leicester have gone down by a country mile and Liverpool will soon be crowned champions by a similar distance.