After Fulham turned around to win 2-1 in extra time against Chelsea to claim their first win at Stamford Bridge in 45 years, a golden opportunity opened up for Liverpool who had bottom side Leicester visiting Anfield, a chance the Merseyside side took.
– It’s a good result, they were very tough in the first half and in the second half they were very well organized, says Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah to Amazon Prime.
But it got off to a bad start in the fog at Anfield, a fog that for a while threatened the game, when Jordan Ayew turned the ball to make it 1-0 for the visitors the first time they were in Liverpool’s penalty area.
Cody Gapko scored a psychologically important 1-1 in added time in the first half, with the VAR room reviewing double offsides, a procedure that took a protracted three minutes. The precise shot from outside had to remain.
Liverpool completely took over in the second half
The Liverpool players buzzed like angry hornets in and around the Leicester penalty area before Curtis Jones made it 2-1 at the start of the second half. He poked the ball in from close range. Here, too, around three minutes passed before possible double offsides would be reviewed again.
When Mohamed Salah curled in 3-1 into the far left corner of the goal, the most notable thing was that no offside situation would be VAR reviewed. He was able to majestically receive the crowd’s cheers after his 16th Premier League goal of the season.
Leicester had four shot attempts in the first ten minutes and the only shot on target was on target. Then they had nothing after that.
The long VAR reviews, where goals were also disallowed, meant that the match received nine minutes of added time.