Good evening! How are we? It’s my first day back after a lengthy honeymoon so forgive any bizarre ramblings – it’s probably the tequila still talking.
Anyway, it’s first versus seventh tonight.
Leicester, if you need any reminding, are currently in control of the Premier League, three points clear of Manchester City and Arsenal.
Liverpool are thirteen points from the summit.
The teams are in.
Let’s take a look.
The Foxes are unchanged from the side that beat Stoke 3-0. Jamie Vardy, by the way, isn’t on his way to Real Madrid…he’s expected to sign a new deal imminently.
And the guests will line out as follows. It’s a bit different from the XI that took on West Ham in the FA Cup on Saturday…
Still no Christian Benteke though – he’s on the bench.
Roberto Firmino continues through the middle, supported by James Milner and Adam Lallana.
How much will Vardy look forward to taking on the centre of that defence?
Kick-off is 7.45, by the way.
It’s a busy evening in the top-flight so strap yourself in. I’ll bring you updates from around the other grounds throughout our coverage.
Are the wheels about to come off for Leicester? Four draws from their last six games and games to come against Man City and Arsenal. This is where everything gets upped a notch. Can they deal with the pressure?
Where will the danger come from Liverpool? Firmino, you’d presume, will have a big role to play. He’s featured in free-flowing games and with Leicester’s counter-attacking style, you’ll expect him to find space this evening. A brace in the 3-3 draw with Arsenal and another double in that remarkable 5-4 win at Norwich.
‘Potentially game-changing’ is how the commentator describes Liverpool’s bench. We’ll see. Almost underway here.
‘Hey Jude’ is blasting out over the PA system. The Beatles were never big football fans, in fairness. But, fingers on buzzers… name the song in which they reference Sir Matt Busby…
1′ KICK-OFF!
CLOSE! And Leicester already pressurise Liverpool in their own half after forcing a quick throw-in. The guests can’t really catch their breath and suddenly Mahrez is on the ball and attacking. He cuts inside and onto his left and tries to steer it inside Mignolet’s far post but it’s just wide. Early warning.
Over at Carrow Road, Dele Alli has given Spurs the lead at Norwich after just 3 minutes.
4′ - Meanwhile, Emre Can tries his luck from distance and the less said about it the better.
8′ – CLOSE! Vardy tees Okazaki up perfectly after racing clear of Lovren and sending in a perfect cross to the far post. But with the goal gaping, Mignolet claws it up and over from point-blank range. Great stop but he really needs to put that away.
All Leicester so far and Liverpool have barely managed to get out of their own half. It could easily be 2-0 already. Very loud and very proud at the King Power.
11′ – Lovren has started really poorly here. Another error and Vardy, briefly, looks like he’s away but falls over as he tries to burst clear. Referee waves play on but Vardy raced straight to Andre Marriner to complain once Liverpool got the ball back. Moments later, Firmino stupidly drifts offside when in a really good position, though Schmeichel saves point-blank anyway.
Danny Drinkwater has been wonderful this season. Formerly at Manchester United though never played a senior game for them, he shows desire and grit to dispossess Milner. Typifies him as a player, really. Spirit, graft, determination. The more you watch the Premier League, the more there is to be said for those qualities.
There is a brilliant, fluid style to this Leicester side – they’re really full of confidence. Fuchs sends in a lofted cross from the left, Mahrez traps it, comes inside and shoots. Mignolet gets behind it and saves. Again.
A couple of updates from elsewhere. Sergio Aguero has given Manchester City the lead at Sunderland while Aston Villa are down to ten men against West Ham with Jordan Ayew shown a red card.
Liverpool have settled into this game in the last five minutes but still making some silly errors in possession. Firmino is valiantly working the channels while Milner has played some intelligent balls. Other than that, there hasn’t been much from them.
The game suffering through a bit of a lull here. Best two chances falling to Leicester inside the opening ten minutes but Liverpool have calmed things down, though Lovren has just cheaply given away a free-kick here and this is a good position for Leicester.
Firmino finds some space in the right channel of the area. Looks to fire it across the near post where Milner is lurking but it’s too close to Schmeichel, who gets down and makes a routine stop.
Another update from elsewhere and this is not a typo. Manchester United have scored a first-half goal at Old Trafford. They lead Stoke City thanks to Jesse Lingard’s strike.
CLOSE! Mahrez tries to bend one to the top corner but Mignolet flings himself to his right and tips it away. Wonderful stop and it really came from nothing.
Oh, dear. Firmino does well to spot Moreno, who is in acres of space down the left side. And he has a chance as he races towards goal. Plenty of time, takes on the shot and balloons it over the bar. He had four team-mates waiting for a pass.
United are 2-0 up against Stoke, by the way. Anthony Martial adding another after Lingard’s opener.
CLOSE! Mignolet does not look very commanding as he fails to deal with a cross and Sakho has to hack it to safety.
Just a few minutes to go until the break. Liverpool are fortunate they’re not behind here. Leicester have created some good chances, not least Okazaki’s close-range header. Mignolet has kept his side in this so far.
HALF-TIME!
Liverpool will be glad to go in scoreless. They’ve been out-battled a bit here. Leicester have created chances and really should be in front. With Mahrez especially, they’ve looked a threat whenever they’ve been in the final third.
Klopp’s side did get a foothold in the game after 15 minutes but have failed to really get anything going. Firmino has struggled to exert himself while the supporting cast haven’t featured.
They’re most influential player has been Mignolet and that says plenty.
Here’s how we’re looking elsewhere currently.
SECOND HALF UNDERWAY!
CLOSE! That’s much better from Liverpool. Some incisive one-touch passing in the Leicester area and it’s finally teed up perfectly for Can who tries to drive inside Schmeichel’s near post but it takes a touch on its way and goes out for a corner.
No changes for either side though it’s inevitable we’ll see Jurgen Klopp bring in Benteke at some stage.
The game is really opening up here. A brief break in play though as Simpson clatters Milner but doesn’t get shown a yellow card.
Klopp has clearly asked for more risk-taking up front as they push more players forward. Lallana does well in the channel, when he lays it off though, the cross from the right is too high and possession reverts back to Leicester.
GOAL! Vardy!
CLOSE! A shot in anger from Moreno – nobody expected it, least of all Schmeichel. He scrambles towards his near post and punches away. Could very nearly have sneaked in.
Oh, my word. What a magnificent goal that is from Jamie Vardy. He hasn’t seen much of the ball tonight. But Mahrez plays a superb pass to the right channel for Vardy to run onto and it bounces up just as he goes to control it. Instinctively, probably knowing Mignolet is off his line, he takes on the shot and thumps it over the stranded keeper to the net. Brilliant, brilliant strike.
Take a bow, Mahrez though. Incredible pass.
Firmino flashes a shot towards goal on the turn but it’s wasteful and harmless. Annoying, surely, for Klopp. Liverpool have been much better since the restart with more sparkle in attack but the end product is not there.
Well, that’s the difference, isn’t it? That individual magic that Liverpool had just a few short seasons ago. That Vardy goal actually reminded me of Suarez’s against Norwich.
SUBSTITUTION! Benteke (on) – Henderson (off)
Pretty simple instructions for the former Aston Villa man.
Manchester United have added a third against Stoke – Wayne Rooney getting his name on the score-sheet.
A lot scrappier than his first but I’m sure he’ll take it. Okazaki tries a shot from the edge of the area and it’s deflected into the path of Vardy who tucks it to the corner. He was onside, no question of that. Fortunate but what do they say about making your own luck?
GOAL! Vardy!
Penalty claim a few moments ago when Okazaki went down with Sakho struggling to get to him. The defender may have got a slight touch on the ball but, in football commentary parlance, you’ve seen them given.
SUBSTITUTION! Allen (on) – Can (off)
Another change you could see coming from Klopp.
There’s been a steely resolve to Leicester, exemplified by the central midfield duo of Drinkwater and Kante – they have been excellent. Meanwhile, Mahrez thrills everyone by taking a ball down effortlessly on the touchline and then conjuring a neat nutmeg moments later.
SUBSTITUTIONS!
Liverpool: Teixeira (on) – Firmino (off)
Leicester: Gray (on) – Albrighton (off)
BOOKING! Lucas takes down Okazaki and we have the first yellow card of the night.
As it stands, Leicester will remain top, three points clear of Manchester City while Liverpool will slip to eighth.
SUBSTITUTIONS! King (on) – Okazaki (off) & Ulloa (on) – Mahrez (off)
Changes continue and it’s game over here, ebbing towards full-time.
FULL-TIME!
There are fourteen games left in the Premier League season and Leicester City remain top of the table by three points. Their incredible story continues while it was more of the same for Liverpool – plenty of perspiration and a distinct lack of inspiration.
They struggled in the final third and they appear to have a real problem with their main attacking force. Firmino was quiet tonight, shackled by Huth and Morgan. Adam Lallana and James Milner couldn’t contribute much, though the latter tried valiantly.
The Foxes screened superbly though with Kante and Drinkwater stand-outs in the centre of midfield while the crucial moment, really, came out of the blue – Vardy conjuring a moment of spectacular brilliance to open the scoring after Liverpool had pushed more bodies forward following the restart.
Leicester created more chances and tested Mignolet on numerous occasions – still no signs that the wheels are coming off.
Thanks for staying with us throughout our coverage. More reaction to this game and all of the Premier League action this evening coming up on the site.
Ireland is the only European team left in it.
Delighted, turning his back on our country.
Youre an ignorant fool.
Ridiculously stupid comment.
Oh, the irony! Ha ha ha!
Paul i think that all the fools are flocking to him and we’re the only ones seeing sense in this idiocracy
‘The English language had deteriorated into a hybrid of hillbilly, valley girl, inner city slang, and various grunts.’
Blame the fatcats that run the game on Eoins decision to play for the neighbour’s ! I will admit I enjoyed watching England fail and Ireland power on ! Test status for Ireland .!!!
Somewhere, Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen (recently sacked England captains) are getting absolutely twisted on a big bottle marked “SCHADENFREUDE”.
Anyone who slates Morgan for declaring for England is either un-educated in the language of cricket or else a total moron, you choose?
Why? Not being smart but I don’t understand the set up, or benefit to declaring for another nation when your own can compete at the WC also, is it just for money or is there more,?
It’s because England have test status (can play 5 day test matches like the ashes) while Ireland are only associates (can only play ODI cricket). Ed Joyce did the same thing.
I have no ill will towards Morgan for doing it. I’ve more ill will towards the ICC for being so archaic that they refuse to grant Ireland test status.
He will be in much more money with England. It is also about playing Test cricket which Ireland do not play but will hopefully sometime in the near future be granted the chance to play. Also even at one day level outside of the world cup Ireland rarely play the big teams maybe two or three times a year they would get a game. Apart from that they just play the likes of Scotland, Holland, U.A.E. Etc. So the money in that side of cricket isn’t great. Pretty sure all the Ireland team are now signed to English county sides which is ok money but nothing on the level England would pay.
So he went to play against the bigger sides, which pays more.
I asked Captain Hindsight about Morgan and he tells me Morgan should have quit the England set up at the top after the 2010/’11 Ashes win and come back to play for Ireland with the hope of still being playing when/if we are allowed to play tests.
To be fair, the Test game is the pinnacle of cricket. It’s where the big money contracts, the exposure, the big crowds are. The Test arena is where players careers are measured. Any of the Irish players would love the chance to play this – ideally with Ireland but that’s not possible at the moment – and Eoin Morgan was the one that England wanted. I wouldn’t be that harsh on him. The ICC should grant Ireland test status and allow the likes of Morgan and Rankin to come back to Ireland immediately without serving time out of the game.
It’s one thing to allow people to swap to another country, it’s another to allow them to swap again.
I don’t know the first thing about cricket or how test/associate status is determined, but surely if it’s a case of the better a nation performs, the better chance there is of being granted test status, then the best players should stay and help their own nation achieve that?
But Why can players flit from one country to the next in cricket?
I’m confused by England’s defeat today, my natural reaction is to rejoice at any defeat for that shower. However will the ICC blame the Associate nations for denying them one of their biggest markets in the knock-out stages and see it as proof that their 10 team World Cup is the way to go?
Will the English see our success and poach more of our players, will Balbernie and Dockerill get big offers from county teams this summer?
Or will the opposite happen and the xenophobes in the English media blame Morgan and the other non-Englishmen in the team for the performance and launch a media pogrom?
Bangladesh aren’t an associate.
That said, they are the most recent team to jump from associate status to test status, so the ICC might take it as a warning that if you promote cricket in associate countries and let them make it to test-match level, they might actually get good and remove the teams from the bigger TV markets from the World Cup.
I know Bangladesh are a Test nation but that wouldn’t stop the ICC blaming the Associates as you also hinted. Beat either India or Pakistan and there’ll be no denying that Ireland are in the top 8-10 ODI nations but we’ll still be stopped from playing more than a half dozen or so ODIs every year. That’s as perverse as the World Cup in Qatar!
Disgraceful individual turning his back on his country, wouldn’t want him back. Hope he enjoys the “understanding” and “support” from his chosen country after this.
sure we wouldn’t have anyone from another country representing
So have you willing Es Joyce to fail then? His century vs Zimbabwe won it for us. He left Ireland and played for England and then came back.
Hope you’re showing the same narrow minded contempt for him as well and booing him when he does well for Ireland.
the best of luck to Joyce and morgan until we get test status this is the way it operates.
Go on Paul Dunne. Nice one. Nailed it with minimal words.
For an English sport you’d expect England to be a bit more of a challenge.. How embarrassing :P
Morgan haters are just idots who obviously do not follow cricket. Should not be criticising a man for wanting to play cricket at the highest level. (Test level not the world cup I’m sure a lot of people on here wouldn’t know that.) If your gonna slag off Morgan why aren’t you getting at Boyd Rankin as well he did the exact same thing as Morgan and he couldn’t even make it into the England World Cup Squad. We probably are missing him more than Morgan as well. I suppose we shouldn’t be playing Ed Joyce because he turned his back on us and now has come crawling back to play for us.
World Cup quarter finals would be higher standard than the group stages..your argument is flawed…
It’s still not test cricket, which Morgan has played for England.
India, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand – they’re the highest level.
England? Not in a long time.
Aside from the persons who see fit to have a go at Morgan, it has to be said that this English one day team ranks up there with the most abject and gutless seen for a long time. A lot of people said that players like Pietersen and Stokes scare the opposition because they can change a game in a flash. Who do they have now? Batsmen who seem to be in a straitjacket and bowlers like Broad and Anderson who are way past their best. And at the helm a coach who is so bad, it’s sad.
At this rate I would back the Aussies to win the next Ashes series 5-0.
I’m a complete novice here so go easy…….why is it someone like Joyce can play for Ireland, then England and back to ireland? Thanks
Shite sport …. Simple as
Possibly the worst 12 months for english sport in living memory. Worst world cup ever, a failed six nations campaign and now this.