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Reuters
Reuters
Sport

Liverpool survive Alisson howler to continue winning start

Soccer Football - Premier League - Leicester City v Liverpool - King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Leicester City's Rachid Ghezzal scores their first goal REUTERS/Darren Staples

Sept 1 (Reuters) - - Liverpool beat Leicester City 2-1 to post a fourth successive Premier League victory but conceded their first goal of the season after a nightmare mistake by new keeper Alisson at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.

With Liverpool two goals up and cruising, the Brazilian opted for clever footwork instead of simply clearing his lines and was robbed of the ball by Kelechi Iheanacho, who centred for Algerian Rachid Ghezzal.

Last week Alisson was praised for a piece of neat footwork against Brighton but this unnecessary mistake, prompted by a poor backpass from Virgil van Dyke, brought back instant memories of Loris Karius's errors in the Champions League final.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Leicester City v Liverpool - King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Liverpool's Alisson looks dejected after Leicester City's first goal Action Images via Reuters/Carl Recine

Both Liverpool goals came before the break with Sadio Mane bagging his fourth goal of the season after good work from Andrew Robertson, and Roberto Firmino heading home from a James Milner corner on the halftime whistle.

The visitors started the second half sloppily, though, and, with Leicester threatening to grab another goal, a concerned Juergen Klopp even brought on Xherdan Shaqiri for last season's record scorer Mo Salah, who had missed one easy first-half chance but looked surprised to be taken off.

Despite their defeat, Leicester impressed and had more possession and shots on target than Liverpool. James Maddison was always a handful and the home side were unfortunate to end the game without a point as Liverpool go into the international break on the back of their best start to a season since 1990.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Leicester City v Liverpool - King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Liverpool's Alisson looks dejected after Leicester City's first goal REUTERS/Darren Staples

"There's a long way to go," said Liverpool's James Milner, whose side are top of the table ahead of Saturday's later kickoffs. "It wasn't a good performance from us but sometimes you have to win ugly and we did that today.

"I don't think anyone has hit their top gear yet."

Leicester's Maddison said they were extremely disappointed because "we had Liverpool where we wanted them".

Soccer Football - Premier League - Leicester City v Liverpool - King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Liverpool's James Milner is shown a yellow card by referee Paul Tierney Action Images via Reuters/Carl Recine

(Reporting by Neil Robinson; editing by Clare Fallon)

Soccer Football - Premier League - Leicester City v Liverpool - King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Liverpool's Xherdan Shaqiri in action with Leicester City's Wilfred Ndidi Action Images via Reuters/Carl Recine
Soccer Football - Premier League - Leicester City v Liverpool - King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Liverpool's Joe Gomez in action REUTERS/Darren Staples
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