REDS END ANFIELD LOSING RUN
Trent’s late winner caps Liverpool comeback to sink Villa
JURGEN Klopp admitted a weight has been lifted from Liverpool’s shoulders after Trent Alexander-Arnold’s
injury-time winner secured a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa and ended a record run of defeats at Anfield on Saturday.
The English champions had lost their previous six games at
Anfield and fell behind again when Alisson Becker failed to keep out Ollie Watkins’s first-half strike.
Liverpool were then controversially denied an equaliser as a dubious VAR review ruled out Roberto Firmino’s reply.
But Mohamed Salah levelled before Alexander-Arnold responded in style to the criticism he has received of late.
“It felt massive to win. A real relief,” said Klopp.
“I can’t remember the last time we did it easy but it’s fine in our situation after losing six home games.”
Alexander-Arnold was dropped from England manager Gareth Southgate’s squad last month and was at fault for Real Madrid’s second goal as Liverpool lost the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against the Spanish giants 3-1 on Tuesday.
But the right-back’s attacking output has been a prominent part of Liverpool’s success in the last three seasons under Klopp and the 22-year-old showed what he can do with a brilliant finish to curl the ball into the far corner.
“We can stop that chat about Trent, everyone agrees that he is an outstanding player,” added Klopp.
“It’s Southgate’s decision what he does for the squad but we don’t have to talk about it every week. We don’t have to justify the players’ status every week.”
Liverpool have now won three consecutive league games for the first time since the opening three matches of the season to boost their chances of climbing back into the Champions League next season.