Key events
Andy Hunter listened to what Arne Slot had to say ahead of this fixture. And this is what he heard:
Arne Slot has said his experience of facing Ruud van Nistelrooy in the Netherlands, plus Liverpool’s brief drop-off against Tottenham, ensures Leicester will not be underestimated at Anfield on Boxing Day.
The Liverpool head coach was unable to beat Van Nistelrooy’s PSV when guiding Feyenoord to the Eredivisie title in 2022-23, drawing 2-2 at home and losing 4-3 away. PSV were one of only two teams to defeat Feyenoord in a season when Slot’s side won the league by seven points from their closest challengers from Eindhoven.
Much more here:
It’s been a bit foggy on Merseyside today, but visibility is just good enough for the game to go ahead.
The same was not true when Tranmere were supposed to play Accrington Stanley a little earlier:
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Do they know it’s Christmas, part II. Ruud van Nistelrooy agrees with Slot: “As a manager, you’re busy working and sometimes you forget that it’s Christmas,” he sniffs.
Meanwhile, asked about the decision to throw Jakub Stolarczyk into the team, after Danny Ward was booed by his own fans during the defeat to Wolves, he says: “It’s not ideal, but the circumstances with Wardy were intense, we all felt it, and it puts you in a position where you have to make decisions.”
Do they know it’s Christmas? Not if they’re football managers they don’t. “You don’t know it’s Christmas, as a manager,” Arne Slot says. “If you told me it was October I probably would believe you.”
Also from Slot, this word of caution: “We play really well at the moment but City, two months ago they were playing so well and look where they are now.”
The teams!
Today’s line-ups. Darwin Nunez leads the line for Liverpool, while Curtis Jones replaces Szoboszlai. No Jamie Vardy for Leicester, and Jakub Stolarczyk makes a first start in goal:
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Salah, Jones, Gakpo, Nunez. Subs: Kelleher, Endo, Diaz, Szoboszlai, Chiesa, Elliott, Jota, Tsimikas, Quansah.
Leicester: Stolarczyk, Justin, Coady, Vestergaard, Kristiansen, Winks, Soumare, Ayew, El Khannous, Mavididi, Daka. Subs: Iversen, Okoli, De Cordova-Reid, Choudhury, Skipp, Edouard, Thomas, Alves, Buonanotte.
Referee: Darren Bond.
Hello world!
It has been a very good Boxing Day for Liverpool so far: Chelsea lost at home, Manchester City didn’t win (and neither did Everton) and Arsenal play tomorrow, all of which adds up to an opportunity to go seven points clear of Chelsea (with a game in hand), eight clear of Nottingham Forest (likewise) and nine clear of Arsenal (without one) if they manage to do to Leicester what they did the last time the Foxes played at Anfield, and the time before that, and the time before that, and indeed what they have done on eight of the last 10 occasions they’ve turned up, and beat them (they drew the other two).
Discouragingly (for the visitors) Leicester’s only away win this season came at Southampton in October. They have lost seven and won one of 10 games in all competitions since then and their form in the last eight league games is so bad they haven’t even got more points than Manchester City (both have five and are, on points at least, joint 18th in a last-eight-games table; talking of 18 that’s how many points Liverpool have, making it yet another table they are top of).
A little surprisingly, Liverpool only have a 55% top-at-Christmas-to-league-title conversion rate (before the advent of the Premier League they were rolling merrily at a 71.4% conversion rate, but that’s dropped to 16.7%, aka one from six, since 1992). That’s actually a slight overperformance: the all-time top-flight top-at-Christmas-to-league-title conversion rate is 44%, and the all-time Premier League figure is precisely 50%.
We’re almost exactly five months from finding out how this season will end, with the final day inked in for 25 May. Could tonight see another giant leap in a glorious direction for Arne Slot’s high-fliers? We’ll soon find out!
