It's time for the morning round-up of your Liverpool headlines for Wednesday, March 23.
EXCLUSIVE: 'I'm no longer angry' - Michael Owen speaks out over Liverpool legacy
Michael Owen believes that he is a different man since retiring from professional football and becoming a father and family man.
In an exclusive interview with the ECHO, Owen revealed how he spent most of his formative sporting years 'angry' at where his next goal was coming through or how he had to train or eat. He also explained how he had been unsure about writing his autobiography before hand but found the exercise to be therapeutic.
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Owen said: "I think when I was asked to do the book I was in two minds. And then once I agreed to it and started sitting down and talking about life and everything else, it was almost quite therapeutic to just get it all out. Because in football you can't say what you want to say all of the time and of course my career was such that I didn't plan anything. You know I didn't plan to do what I did at 17 or 18 or 30 or 33 for that matter.
"You just try your nuts off to get to the top of your profession and to score a goal every time you play and that is just your way. But it is not like in business where you can plan ahead with a five-year plan. You're doing your best for the here and now and I just felt that the book was therapeutic."
Read Paul Gorst's full exclusive interview with Michael Owen HERE.
Alisson set to land another Man City blow away from Liverpool battle
Whisper it quietly but Alisson Becker is back to his best. With Liverpool chasing an unprecedented quadruple, it feels like the goalkeeper is making crucial saves on a weekly basis to maintain the Reds’ charge.
With 21 clean sheets to his name so far this season, he has already comfortably beaten his totals from each of the past two campaigns. Meanwhile, with Liverpool scheduled to play at least another 12 matches, he’ll fancy his chances of easily beating his Reds’ best haul of 21 shutouts from his maiden year at Anfield.
Alisson ’s return to elite levels this year has proven to be as vital for Liverpool’s revival as Virgil van Dijk ’s comeback from injury. Last term, the 29-year-old still emerged to produce the Reds’ moment of the season when scoring a spectacular last-minute winner against West Bromwich Albion to keep Jurgen Klopp ’s side in the hunt for the top four.
The goalkeeper hasn’t looked back since and if Liverpool are to go even close to winning the quadruple in the final two months of the season, the Brazilian will have played the most crucial of roles. Even now, his save from Arkadiusz Milik in the dying minutes of a 1-0 victory against Napoli in December 2018 is heralded for its role in the Reds’ Champions League final win that season, and subsequent Premier League glory the following year.
Get the full story from Theo Squires on Alisson HERE.
Michael Edwards to hand Jurgen Klopp transfer boost after Liverpool exit
Liverpool’s pursuit of an unprecedented quadruple goes on with Jurgen Klopp’s side one point off Man City in the Premier League title-race and through to the Champions League quarter-finals and FA Cup semi-finals. Entering the business end of the season after the March international break, the Reds will push on for further glory as they look to add to their February League Cup final win.
But it’s not just at Anfield where sides have their sights focused on finishing the campaign on a high. In the Championship, the promotion fight is taking shape ahead of the final weeks of the season. And with a number of Liverpool loanees involved, the Reds could be set to profit.
Fulham look set to secure an instant return to the Premier League with the Cottagers boasting an eight-point lead at the top of the table and sitting 14 points clear of the play-off places, while still holding games in hand in the bank. Meanwhile, AFC Bournemouth currently sit second, six points clear of the play-off places having played two and three games less than the four sides below them.
If Bournemouth end up winning promotion, Liverpool would receive a bonus payout from the Cherries after they signed Nat Phillips on loan. The defender, who has made eight appearances so far on the south coast, cost Scott Parker’s side a £1.5m loan fee in January, with the Reds set to bank an additional £250k if they clinch a return to the Premier League.
Read the full story from Theo Squires, on how Liverpool's loan deals work HERE.
