Liverpool have suffered a home defeat in the Premier League for the first time since April 2017. Manager Jürgen Klopp’s team lost 0-1 against Burnley at home and thus remained dry for 410 minutes. It marked Burnley’s first win at Anfield since 1974. Erik Pieters joined the visitors shortly after halftime, while Georginio Wijnaldum kicked off for the home team.
Liverpool started the season strongly, but have not been able to win in the Premier League since December 19 and did not even score in the last games. Klopp gave Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino the first hour of rest and promoted Wijnaldum to captain due to the absence of Jordan Henderson. The home team started waiting and got the first chance of the match through Xherdan Shaqiri. The Swiss pulled in from the right, but was imprecise in rounding off and shot half a meter wide with the left.
Burnley felt forced to limit himself to defending in the first half and successfully threw himself for the ball a number of times. The team managed to withstand the pressure of the home team and saw Divock Origi after half an hour of play right at goalkeeper Nick Pope after an individual action. The same Origi had the opening goal on the shoe just before half time, after he took advantage of a misperception by captain Ben Mee. The Belgian approached Pope alone, but saw his shot bounce back into the field through the bottom of the crossbar.
Klopp’s team continued to like the game better and recorded the next good opportunity early in the second half. Trent Alexander-Arnold sent the ball into the right corner, after which Pope narrowly managed to work the ball over the back line in two instances with an extended leg. It was thanks to Burnley’s goalkeeper that his team stayed alive for the first hour, because the English closing post also had an excellent answer to a shot from the substitute Salah. The Egyptian approached on a pass from Wijnaldum, but his shot was caught in the short corner.
Liverpool desperately tried to force an opening in the visitors’ defense, but had to watch Burnley take the lead ten minutes before time. Ashley Barnes was lucky to get the ball into the box and tapped it over the outgoing Alisson Becker, who committed a foul on the striker. Barnes himself went behind the ball and used the penalty kick: 0-1. It marked his 100th club goal of his career and Liverpool’s first home loss since April 2017.