Liverpool to lift trophy on the Kop
LIVERPOOL — Liverpool will lift the Premier League trophy in a special ceremony on the Kop following next Wednesday’s fixture with Chelsea.
Jurgen Klopp’s team secured their first league title in 30 years in June, but fans will not be at Anfield to watch the ceremony because of COVID-19.
Club legend Sir Kenny Dalglish will hand out medals before club captain Jordan Henderson lifts the trophy.
Henderson — who lifted the Champions League trophy last season — will be the first Liverpool captain to lift the trophy awarded to the English champions since Alan Hansen in 1990, despite his season being over because of a knee injury.
Henderson and his teammates will receive the trophy on a podium surrounded by banners made by fans and built in the middle of the famous Kop Stand.
The club has urged fans to “stay at home to enjoy the ceremony” in light of the ongoing measures in place to safeguard against the spread of coronavirus.
“With supporters unable to attend the behind-closed-doors fixture, the historic occasion will involve a unique presentation designed to acknowledge and celebrate Liverpool fans,” the club said.
In the aftermath of Liverpool mathematically sealing the title, fans gathered at Anfield despite being warned it was not safe to do so.
Fans also gathered at the city's waterfront the following evening and faced criticism from both the club and the city’s mayor Joe Anderson.
Meanwhile,
Liverpool’s bid to set a new Premier League points record was ended on Wednesday when they lost 2-1 to Arsenal, while Manchester City pushed Bournemouth closer to relegation. Klopp’s side needed to win their final three games of the season to break Manchester City’s record of 100 points set in 2018.
They were on course when Sadio Mane opened the scoring with a clinical finish from Andrew Robertson’s cross at the Emirates Stadium.
But two careless mistakes condemned Liverpool to a third league defeat this season.
Virgil van Dijk’s wayward backpass went straight to Alexandre Lacazette, who rounded Reds keeper Alisson Becker to slot home in the 32nd minute.
Alisson was guilty of an equally costly blunder when his pass out was intercepted by Lacazette and he picked out 20-year-old Reiss Nelson for a cool closerange finish.
Liverpool have failed to win three of their five matches since clinching the title. They have 93 points and with just two games left and can only reach 99 at the end of their first title-winning campaign for 30 years. Arsenal climb to ninth place as they chase qualification for the Europa League. Mikel Arteta’s side go into tomorrow’s FA Cup semifinal against Manchester City in good spirits after bouncing back from Sunday’s defeat at north London rivals Tottenham.
Manchester City had enjoyed a big win off the field already this week with their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturning a two-season ban from playing in European competitions, freeing up Pep Guardiola’s men to play in the Champions League next season. Guardiola left Aymeric Laporte, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez on the bench against Bournemouth to keep them fresh for Wembley, but City still had too much quality in the form of David Silva and Gabriel Jesus.
Silva has just two more matches at the Etihad after a 10-year City career and showed why he will be so missed by curling a free-kick in off the underside of the crossbar six minutes in.
Bournemouth had chances to level against a makeshift City defence as Ederson turned Junior Stanislas’s freekick onto the post.
At the other end, Jesus was ruthless as he wriggled between two weak Bournemouth challenges inside the box before firing into the far corner to score for the third consecutive game.
City finally conceded for the first time in five home games since the restart when David Brooks turned home Callum Wilson’s cross two minutes from time.
“It was a really difficult game. We started well in the first 10 or 15 minutes of the second half but then we had a problem in our build-up,” Guardiola said after his side’s 2-1 win.
Defeat leaves Bournemouth still three points adrift of safety from Watford and West Ham, who face each other today. Wolves remain three points adrift of the Champions League places with just two games to play after Chris Wood’s 96th-minute spot-kick gave Burnley a 1-1 draw at Turf Moor.
It was not until 14 minutes from time that the visitors broke the deadlock thanks to Raul Jimenez’s stunning strike on the half-volley.
Tottenham won 3-1 at Newcastle to keep their chances of European football next season on track by moving up to seventh.
Harry Kane and Son Heung-min were the key men for Tottenham as the South Korean’s low shot crept in at Martin Dubravka’s near post to open the scoring.
Serge Aurier started for the visitors just three days after his brother was shot dead in Toulouse and the Ivorian was at fault for Newcastle’s equaliser as Matt Ritchie pounced on a wayward clearance to fire home.