Another nervy 90 minutes, another imperfect performance, but another three points. Liverpool won their 17th consecutive Premier League game, one short of equalling the all-time record.
The top flight’s only 100 per cent start to the season will last beyond the October international break. The question is whether it be can maintained for much longer on such tense, nerve-shredding victories.
Even at half time, when Sadio Mané had opened the scoring and Leicester City had not registered a shot on goal, this felt like a close contest.
Even after James Milner’s decisive stoppage-time penalty, the visitors parked themselves in front of the Kop, seeking their second equaliser of the afternoon.
It did not come. Brendan Rodgers oh-so-nearly punished his former club for missing several clear-cut chances and dented their nascent title aspirations. James Maddison cancelled out Mane’s strike with 10 minutes remaining. At that point, it appeared as though a point at Anfield would boost Leicester’s top-six credentials.
But like in many of Liverpool’s previous 16 league victories, Jürgen Klopp’s side would find a way. Marc Albrighton was the culprit, running himself into trouble inside his own penalty area in the second minute of four added-on. While inexplicably steering the ball away from his team-mate Kasper Schmeichel, he scraped Mane’s ankles. VAR upheld the penalty decision, Milner made it count.
Liverpool, in fairness, had enough chances to win this game comfortably. Milner, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah all missed close-range opportunities.
At least one of those should perhaps have been scored. The afternoon would have been a lot easier. Instead, a Leicester fightback always felt likely, even if their attack was somewhat blunt.
And yet, for the seventeenth time on the bounce, Liverpool win. For the third consecutive league game, the three points were earned by a single goal. In a climate where draws are the new defeats, that is an invaluable quality. It is also, perhaps, an unsustainable one.
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