Full time at Anfield: Liverpool 4-1 Leicester City
90+4 min: The defending champions lose their second match of the season. They’ve been soundly beaten by a Liverpool team that were inconsistent, but played some scintillating pass-and-move football at times that led to some wonderful goals. Roberto Firmino got two, while Adam Lallana and Sadio Mane got one each in an emphatic win against opposition that look unlikely to trouble top four this season. They’ve got Club Brugges in their first ever Champions League next week - good luck to them.
90 min: Liverpool substitution: Sadio Mane off, Alberto Moreno on.
GOAL! Liverpool 4-1 Leicester City (Firmino 89)
With play deep in the Liverpool half, Jordan Henderson sends Sadio Mane off on the counter-attack. With Kasper Schmeichel way out of his goal, Mane rounds the hopelessly committed keeper and squares the ball for Roberto Firmino. The Brazilian shimmies this way and that to evade the attentions of back-pedalling defenders and slots home.
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87 min: Kasper Schmeichel makes himself big (behave!) to block a shot from Sadio Mane, who had pierced the Leicester defence to latch on to a neat slide-rule pass from Roberto Firmino, who’s been a constant source of torment for Leicester tonight. Mane’s first touch was a mite too heavy and gave Schmeichel the opportunity to save from point blank range.
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85 min: Poor old Simon Mignolet. There’s another break in play as the goalkeeper gets treatment for a cut eye, which I’m guessing he sustained while contesting that high ball with Vardy.
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82 min: Leicester win a throw-in deep in Liverpool territory, which Luis Hernandez takes long. Mignolet ends up flapping again, under pressure from Vardy, but gets away with it when Huth is penalised for a subsequent foul. Mignolet’s not been too convincing today and the fact that he has a giant wad of tissue plugging his bloody nose isn’t helping him in the dignity stakes.
78 min: More wonderful play for Liverpool, who carve Leicester open again with a series of one-twos and neat through balls. Firmino pulls a pass from the byline back into the penalty area, where Jordan Henderson crowns a fluid move by blasting the ball high over the bar.
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76 min: Liverpool double substitution: Daniel Sturridge and Georginio Wijnaldum off, Coutinho and Stewart on.
75 min: Leicester corner. Mahrez’s outswinger drops for Danny Drinkwater and he drives low and hard through the penalty area. A ball that could have been deflected anywhere goes out for a corner.
72 min: Activity on the Liverpool bench, where Philippe Coutinho and Kevin Stewart are getting ready to come on. Firmino gets flagged for offside as he attempts to square the ball across the face of the Leicester goal with a back-heel after picking up a through-ball from Daniel Sturridge.
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70 min: Georginio Wijnaldum latches on to a through ball from Firmino with a perfectly timed run that puts him one on one with the Leicester goalkeeper. He’s incorrectly flagged for offside.
69 min: Ulloa pulls back to Vardy after good work with Fuchs. Henderson mops up the danger.
64 min: Leicester substitution: Leonardo Ulloa on for Marc Albrighton.
61 min: Jamie Vardy misses a wonderful opportunity to reduce the deficit for Leicester, bringing a smart save out of Simon Mignolet with his low drive when scoring looked easier.
58 min: Firmino needlessly barges into Marc Albrighton to give Leicester a free-kick deep inside their own half.
GOAL! Liverpool 3-1 Leicester City (Lallana 57)
Boom! Adam Lallana rifles a right-footed shot into the top corner from about 15 yards to give Liverpool a two-goal cushion.
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56 min: Schmeichel saves well from Sturridge after excellent work from Adam Lallana to put his striker in a scoring position. Sturridge should have done better.
54 min: Jordan Henderson clears up at the back after Vardy tries to chase down possession after pressuring Georginio Wijnaldum into a mistake. Sloppy from Liverpool, who have looked far from impressive in the opening minutes of this second half.
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53 min: Moments after receiving treatment for a head injury, Mignolet has another dither, almost getting caught in possession by Musa while trying to field a back pass.
51 min: On BT Sport, Howard Webb has just pointed out that Leicester City’s goal should have been ruled out, because Shinji Okazaki encroached on the penalty area before Mignolet’s short goal kick had made its way out of the box to Lucas. Ergo, the ball was not in play. Good spot, Howard ... if indeed you are correct.
49 min: Mignolet continues receiving treatment. He’ll live.
47 min: Musa picks up a ball from Mahrez on the edge of the area, but is closed down by Matip before he can unleash a clean shot. Corner from Leicester, which Simon Mignolet punches clear. Mignolet jumped into Robert Huth and wins a free-kick. I’m not sure why. He’s got a bloody nose for his trouble, so there’s a break in play while the Liverpool goalkeeper receives treatment.
Second half: Liverpool 2-1 Leicester City
46 min: The ball gets rolling for the second half, with speed merchant Ahmed Musa on for Leicester in place of Shinji Okazaki.
Half-time: Liverpool 2-1 Leicester
It’s been a strange game, massively entertaining in patches but strangely flat in others. Liverpool looked to have wrapped it up with a minimum of fuss courtesy of splendid team goals finished off by Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane, but a howler from Lucas Leiva allowed Jamie Vardy to poke Leicester back into the game. Liverpool have looked nervy since.
45+1 min: Christian Fuchs barges into Roberto Firmino just inside the Leicester penalty area. Referee Craig Pawson has a good view, but doesn’t award a spot-kick. If that had happened anywhere else on the field, I’m fairly certain he’d have given a free-kick, so why not award a penalty there? Strange.
45 min: Jordan Henderson gets booked for a late tackle on Marc Albrighton.
43 min: Kasper Schmeichel rushes out of his penalty area to chest the ball clear as Daniel Sturridge was trying to lift it over him. A lot of goalkeepers appear to have left their brains at home today.
42 min: Mignolet, it must be said, deserves some of the blame for that goal Leicester scored a couple of minutes ago. Both Okazaki and Vardy were there to put pressure on Liverpool’s defenders as the Belgian goalkeeper elected to play the ball out from the back.
41 min: Robert Huth hits the cross-bar with a looping header after a long Luis Hernandez throw-in into the penalty area had prompted Mignolet to dash off his line and flap hopelessly at the ball.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-1 Leicester (Vardy 38)
Good lord. A horror show from Lucas gifts a goal to Leicester City. With Mignolet trying to play the ball out from the back, he rolled the ball to Lucas, who seriously undercooked a return pass. In his attempts to rescue the situation, he slashed wildly at the ball, squaring it across it his own goal to Vardy, who tapped into an empty net.
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37 min: Georginio Wijnaldum tries to curl the ball into the corner from the edge of the penalty area after picking up a pass from Daniel Sturridge. Good work down the right flank by Clyne to set up that move.
35 min: Leicester suffer another blow when Danny Simpson is helped down the tunnel with what looks like a torn hamstring. He’s replaced by Luis Hernandez.
32 min: That was a wonderful goal. From midfield, Robert Firmino played a ball down the inside right channel for Sturridge to chase. He squared the ball with the most audacious of back-heels and Mane clipped it over Schmeichel, who got a touch but was unable to prevent the ball from arcing into the bottom right-hand corner. The speed at which Liverpool went about their business there was just mesmerising.
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GOAL! Liverpool 2-0 Leicester (Mane 31)
Ha! Make that two! Sadio Mane doubles Liverpool’s lead in splendid style. It was an absolute beauty.
29 min: Mane attempts to pick out Lallana with a pass across the face of the Leicester penalty area, but Marc Albrighton is alert to the danger and cancels it out with an important interception. After a bright start, Leicester look in serious danger of finding themselves on the end of a hiding here. Still only a goal in it, mind.
27 min: Daniel Amartey gets booked for a late tackle on Georginio Wijnaldum.
25 min: That’s more like it! Liverpool carve open Leicester’s defence, taking out Huth, Morgan and Drinkwater, with a series of slick one-twos that concludes with Sadio Mane teeing up Daniel Sturridge. From no more than 10 yards, he fails to beat Kasper Schmeichel at his near post. It was a good save, but the striker should have scored.
21 min: Liverpool advance looking to have more about them than the champions, but it’s all fairly flat at the moment. The clearly audible sound of players and managers shouting instructions at each other in a packed 54,000-seater stadium is rarely a sign of a thriller.
20 min: Riyad Mahrez curls the ball towards Wes Morgan at the far post. His knockdown is poked wide by an offside Shinji Okazaki.
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19 min: Lots of polite applause greeting various passages of play, but otherwise the atmosphere seems curiously flat considering the home side have just gone a goal ahead. The home support are currently being outsung by Leicester’s fans. Leicester win a corner.
14 min: Ping! Ping! Ping! A short series of crisp passes helps put Liverpool ahead. Advancing up the field from his left-back role, James Milner lasers a pass between Liverpool’s central defenders for Roberto Firmino to latch on to. He cut inside on the edge of the area and sent a right-footed shot into the corner. Liverpool lead.
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GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Leicester (Firmino 13min)
Roberto Firmino opens the scoring for Liverpool, just as I was in the middle of typing an entry detailing the troubles Liverpool were having finding an opening despite their recent dominance of possession.
11 min: Liverpool have settled in the game and found their feet after starting on the back foot. They’re looking a serious threat now.
9 min: Wes Morgan is forced to intervene and slide the ball out for a corner with Daniel Sturridge lurking with intent behind him after excellent interplay between Jordan Henderson and Roberto Firmino. Leicester clear.
7 min: Another long ball from the back from Leicester, to which Mahrez gets the flick-on after out-jumping Lucas. Vardy chases, but it’s nowhere near him.
5 min: Marc Albrighton wins a throw-in deep in Liverpool territory, when Lucas blocks his attempt at a cross. Nothing comes of it.
4 min: Danny Drinkwater hoists a long ball forward for Jamie Vardy to chase into the gap between Lucas and James Milner. It eludes the striker, but breaks for Shinji Okazaki, who shoots high over the bar from outside the area.
3 min: Liverpool get forward, attacking down the right flank courtesy of Adam Lallana. Daniel Amartey tidies up for Leicester.
2 min: Liverpool have started on the front foot, winning a corner, then a throw-in deep in Liverpool territory. Danny Simpson tries to find Jamie Vardy, but Liverpool clear.
Liverpool v Leicester City has kicked off
1 min: Leicester get the ball rolling, attacking the Kop in the first half with their players wearing blue shirts, blue shorts and blue socks. They immediately win a corner, which Riyad Mahrez takes. It’s headed clear.
Not long now ...
The teams are in the tunnel, with Jordan Henderson and Wes Morgan wearing the armbands as they lead their sides out on to the pitch. Dejan Lovren, who misses out today, is at the game and is sporting a very gruesome looking shiner. His right eye is completely swollen shut from a clash of heads at training yesterday, so it’s no surprise he’s sitting this one out.
Liverpool's line-up
Lucas comes into the heart of defence for Dejan Lovren, who got a bang on the head in training yesterday. Elsewhere, Daniel Sturridge is recalled to the starting line-up in place of Philippe Coutinho, who only got from international duty with Brazil on Thursday morning.
Kasper Schmeichel is available for Leicester having recovered from a minor hernia operation, but there’s no place in the squad for new record signing Islam Slimani. Claudio Ranieri fields the same side that started the champions’ 2-1 win over Swansea before the international break.
Liverpool v Leicester City
Liverpool: Mignolet, Clyne, Matip, Lucas, Milner, Lallana, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Mane, Sturridge, Firmino.
Subs: Karius, Coutinho, Grujic, Klavan, Moreno, Origi, Stewart.
Leicester: Schmeichel, Simpson, Huth, Morgan, Fuchs, Mahrez, Drinkwater, Amartey, Albrighton, Okazaki, Vardy.
Subs: Hernandez, Chilwell, Musa, King, Zieler, Gray, Ulloa.
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire)
Good evening sports fans ...
Welcome to this evening’s minute-by-minute coverage of Liverpool’s first home game of the season, which has been delayed until now due to the completion of building work on their new stand. It opens for business on an evening they host the Premier League champions.
The capacity of Anfield has been increased by 8,500 people to 54,000, a minority of whom will be enjoying the match from the comfort of the 14 new hospitality boxes. If photos posted earlier this week from some of its less splendid vantage points are anything to go by, others may get to see as much as half the pitch if they really crane their necks.
Anyway, it’s only a stand, so let’s not get all West Ham-leaving-Upton Park over it and focus on the football instead. Kick-off is at 5.30pm (BST) but we’ll be here long before that with team news and build-up.
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