Liverpool 2-0 Burnley: Jota and Mane send Klopp’s men back to victory in front of Anfield crowd
Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane scored on either side of half-time to secure Liverpool a 2-0 win over Burnley in front of a packed house at Anfield.
The Reds received a boost ahead of Saturday’s clash, with Jordan Henderson returning to the Premier League for the first time since February and Andy Robertson named to the bench following an ankle injury.
It was Robertson’s replacement Konstantinos Tsimikas who created the opener, finding Jota with a cross as the forward scored his second goal in as many games at the start of the new season.
Both teams had strikes ruled out for offside, Mohamed Salah and Ashley Barnes the unfortunate pair, before Sadio Mane took advantage of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s curling pass to seal the victory.
Burnley had started off the best, giving the hosts a rude awakening with Alexander-Arnold forced into a goal-line clearance to block Dwight McNeil’s weak effort – the offside flag appearing late after the initial scare.
The hosts then opened the scoring in the 18th minute when Jota passed Nick Pope to register his first league goal at Anfield since November 2020.
Salah managed to get past Burnley’s keeper to apparently add a second, only for VAR to rule out the Egyptian striker after a clever unload from Harvey Elliott, making his first Premier League start for Liverpool.
James Tarkowski nearly equalized on the stroke of half-time, rising above Alisson but heading narrowly wide as the goalkeeper failed to catch Matthew’s set-piece Lowton.
Burnley saw his own goal disallowed after the break, with Barnes whipping up the roof of the net before seeing the assistant raise his flag correctly.
Any concerns among the returning home crowd about the slim lead were quelled when Mane made known Liverpool’s dominance in the second half, crushing a weak attempt in the net to cap the hosts’ superb building play .
Alisson ensured a clean sheet with a courageous save in added time, rushing to deny Barnes at close range after the forward was pushed back by substitute Jay Rodriguez.
What does it mean? Liverpool’s dominance over Anfield opener continues
As Sean Dyche’s side ended Klopp’s 68-game unbeaten streak at Anfield last season, Jota’s opener was crucial in calming the nerves of Liverpool’s long-awaited comeback.
The win extends their unbeaten streak to 12 – including 10 wins – their longest running streak in the top flight, while Burnley has now lost five in a row in the competition for the first time.
The Reds have also lost just three of their last 56 top-tier opener in front of their own supporters, with the result against Burnley representing their ninth consecutive victory on such occasions.
Thirty formidable
After a somewhat meager campaign the last quarter by his own high standards, Alexander-Arnold put in a compelling performance.
The right-back provided a wonderful performance for Mane’s goal – his ninth assist for the Senegal striker in the competition – and it was just one of his seven key assists, a game-high.
The England international has registered 101 touches in the lead and, since the start of the 2018-19 Premier League season, only Kevin De Bruyne (34) has provided more assists than Alexander-Arnold’s total of 33 .
Not so good for Gudmundsson
Johann Gudmundsson struggled the entire game to contain Tsimikas, who deliciously fell back on Jota’s goal, winning just 22.2% of his nine games before his late retirement.
To make matters worse for the Icelandic international, he inflicted the most fouls of the game (four) and also made just 14 assists during his 79-minute outing.
Opta key figures
– Liverpool have won each of their last seven Premier League games, as many victories as they have in their 20 previous outings in the competition (D5 L8) and their longest consecutive league winning streak in a series of 18 ending in February 2020.
– Burnley lost 11 of their 15 Premier League games against Liverpool (V2 D2), more defeats than they suffered against any other team in the competition (loss of 10 to Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City).
– At 18 years and 139 days old, Harvey Elliott became the 10th youngest player to start a Premier League game for Liverpool and the youngest since Ben Woodburn in April 2017.
– Since making his Liverpool debut in September 2020, Diogo Jota has scored 15 goals in all competitions for the Reds, a figure only Mohamed Salah (29) can improve, while the Portuguese has recorded the best rate of minutes per goal of all players for the club at that time (127).
– Virgil van Dijk made his 48th home appearance in the Premier League with Liverpool, not losing any of those games (W43 D5); only Lee Sharpe has played more home games for a club in the competition without losing any (59 with Manchester United).
– Sadio Mane became the fifth player to cross the 50 home goal mark for Liverpool in the Premier League (Fowler 85, Gerrard 69, Owen 63, Salah 56).
And after?
Liverpool will host reigning European champions Chelsea next Saturday. Burnley is also at home against Leeds United on Sunday, albeit after a midweek EFL Cup clash at Newcastle United.
