Burnley 1-3 Liverpool: Reds come from behind at battling Burnley

Report and highlights as Liverpool keep pace at the top of the table

Jack Wilkinson

@jacktwilkinson

Thursday 6 December 2018 07:36, UK

Liverpool came from behind to beat Burnley 3-1 at Turf Moor, reducing the gap on leaders Manchester City to two points.

Jack Cork poked Burnley into the lead on 54 minutes but it lasted just a quarter of an hour as James Milner equalised before substitute Roberto Firmino fired Liverpool ahead with his first touch.

Xherdan Shaqiri's third goal of the season wrapped up the points in stoppage time as Liverpool maintained their unbeaten start to the season to remain on the coattails of the champions.

Burnley remain in the bottom three after a 10th defeat of the season on Sean Dyche's 300th game in management.

Dyche demanded a response from his Burnley players after Saturday's abject defeat at Crystal Palace and that was exactly what he got as the Clarets took advantage of Liverpool's seven pre-match changes, and the loss of Joe Gomez to injury on 23 minutes.

After Virgil van Dijk fired a free header straight at a thankful Joe Hart, Chris Wood saw a deflected strike loop over the bar before, from the resulting cleared corner, Phil Bardsley's rasping 25-yard drive flew just wide of the Liverpool goal.

Burnley thought they had capped a positive first-half display with a goal on 41 minutes as Barnes' first-time volley from a Robbie Brady free-kick flashed past Alisson into the back of the net, but the effort was correctly ruled out for offside.

Joe Hart saved from Daniel Sturridge early in the second half before expertly tipping a Naby Keita piledriver onto the post on 52 minutes.

Those saves laid the foundation for Burnley to take the lead as Cork poked the loose ball home from close range after Wood and Ashley Barnes colluded to make Alisson lose control of a Ben Mee knockdown from a corner.

But the lead last just eight minutes as Merseyside derby hero Divock Origi offloaded the ball to Milner on the edge of the area, and the midfielder drove a crisp effort through bodies into the bottom right-hand corner.

Jurgen Klopp introduced Mohamed Salah and Firmino soon after and the latter had an immediate impact, finishing from close range with his first touch after Van Dijk brilliantly hooked a Trent Alexander-Arnold free-kick across the face of goal.

Keita had a deft back-heel cleared off the line by Bardsley on 82 minutes as Liverpool pushed for a third, while Alisson brilliantly tipped a looping Mee header onto the crossbar in the final minute.

But Alisson's fast thinking immediately after that save released Salah, who in turn played Shaqiri through on goal, and the Swiss rounded off a fine outing for the Reds with their third.

Opta stats

Liverpool have conceded just six goals in their 15 Premier League games this season - equalling the top-flight English league record at this stage of a season, alongside Man Utd in 1985-86, Arsenal in 1990-91, Chelsea in 2004-05 and Chelsea in 2008-09.
Burnley have won just nine points from their opening 15 games this season. Just three of the previous 18 teams to have won nine points or fewer from their first 15 games of a Premier League season have avoided relegation: Sunderland in 2013-14, Wigan in 2007-08 and Coventry in 1995-96.
Alisson has remained unbeaten in his opening 15 league matches as a Liverpool player; equalling the club record in the Premier League set by Javier Mascherano in November 2007.

This was the first Premier League game that none of the trio of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino or Sadio Mane have been in Liverpool's starting XI since May 2017 versus West Ham United.
Roberto Firmino scored with his first touch of the ball, two minutes and 55 seconds after coming on as a substitute for Liverpool in this match.
This was the 50th game that Liverpool's James Milner has scored in overall during his Premier League career and he's not ended on the losing side in any of those matches (W39 D11 L0), which is a Premier League record.
This was the 10th competitive game that Jack Cork has scored in for Burnley overall and the first time he's lost when doing so (W8 D1 L1).

The managers

Sean Dyche: "That was a lot more like it. We didn't get the result and I'm not naïve enough to know that this is a results industry. But you've got to show a performance level to get results and that was there tonight. Over a season if we keep delivering that level of performance we will get our reward."

Jurgen Klopp: "Burnley had a specific plan, to be really aggressive in their challenges and stuff like that, so each ball they won helped them and obviously didn't help us mood-wise. So I was really happy we could just adjust a few tactical things [at half-time]. Reacting like we reacted at a tough place like Turf Moor and Burnley, that's special. It's really good."

Man of the Match - James Milner

Liverpool were in a spot of bother at Turf Moor until 'Mr Reliable' popped up in midfield to spark a great comeback. At first glance, Milner's equaliser looked simple, but on closer inspection the technique to find the bottom corner with minimal backlift was a sight to behold. He's been the victim of rotation in recent weeks but Milner's contribution at the heart of this Liverpool team, especially when the going got tough, may have just given his manager a selection head ache.

What's next?

Burnley host Brighton on Saturday at 3pm while Liverpool travel to Bournemouth for Saturday's lunchtime kick-off - live on Sky Sports Premier League.