Klopp off the hook thanks to class of full-back’s finishing
AT LEAST Jurgen Klopp didn’t have to come up with another wacky excuse about why Liverpool failed to win at Anfield.
But it was close. Until Trent AlexanderArnold gave watching England boss Gareth Southgate a glimpse of what he does best as the game entered injury time, the Reds manager must have been wondering how he could explain this one away.
Perfect pitch, only a breeze blowing in off the Mersey and clear blue skies. Aston Villa had even turned up without their best player, Jack Grealish.
When Manchester City stormed Anfield in January, the German suggested his keeper Alisson Becker might have had cold feet after he had handed Pep Guardiola three points on a platter.
The Brazilian shaved off his handlebar moustache after the midweek Champions League defeat at Real Madrid.
So perhaps Klopp might have claimed that a lack of facial hair had left Alisson a little off balance when he allowed Ollie Watkins’ shot to slip through his fingers two minutes before the break.
Watkins went home with the match ball when Dean Smith’s men rattled the champions 7-2 in October.
Until Mo Salah equalised just before the hour, it seemed possible that Liverpool might even suffer a seventh successive defeat in the place they like to call their bastion of invincibility.
It was the champions’ first goal from open play at Anfield for 12 hours and 49 minutes.
Another two or three wouldn’t go amiss when they attempt to claw back a 3-1 deficit against Madrid on Wednesday night.
Sadio Mane had plundered seven goals from eight previous appearances against Villa.
Klopp had hoped to keep the Senegal forward’s powder dry with the Spaniards in mind.
But with Villa not only holding the home side at arm’s length, but actually threatening to score again, he summoned Mane from the bench with time running out.
Villa must have feared it wasn’t their day when Trezeguet’s shot hit the inside of Becker’s post and then appeared to defy the laws of physics by bouncing back out.
But then AlexanderArnold demonstrated that when it comes to going forward there are few better full-backs in the game.
His omission from Southgate’s last squad raised questions from every quarter bar the House of Commons.
But Alexander-Arnold let his feet do his talking. Or at least his right foot.
Emiliano Martinez thought he had spared Villa with a stunning close-range save to beat out Thiago Alcantara’s volley.
But when the ball broke TAA’s way, his aim with a curling shot into the far corner was unerring.
Klopp’s clenched fist salute said it all.
Liverpool are back in the top-four mix.
And the conspiracy theories can be saved for another day.