Probably unknowingly, Jurgen Klopp fielded a team not seen in 131 years of Liverpool FC history, as Virgil van Dijk proved himself a Liverpool great.
Three points, three injuries and four goals. Those are the key numbers to take from Liverpool’s Premier League win at Brentford.
Thanks to Chelsea‘s draw against Man City on Saturday evening, Liverpool have the title back in their own hands.
The Reds had their own work to take care of earlier in the day, though, and a great second-half performance meant they could relax for the rest of the weekend’s fixtures.
One of the few positives of a 12.30pm kick-off is that a win makes the rest of your weekend far more comfortable.
Despite protestations over the time slot, Liverpool have actually fared well this season in early kick-offs.
FotMob tells us Liverpool have won four of their five games and drawn at the Etihad in their early starts this season.
On this occasion, Klopp picked a team, probably unwittingly, that contained players from 11 different officially recognised countries, for the first time in Liverpool’s history.
Below, you can see each of the flags listed by Liverpool.
For the first time ever in a league match, our starting XI consisted of players of 1??1?? different nationalities ? pic.twitter.com/mgxgcD0UWo
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 17, 2024
It was also a landmark day for the captain, Van Dijk, as he played his 250th game for the club.
Winning over 68 percent of his matches, he has won more games in his first 250 for Liverpool than any other player in the club’s history.
Below him are Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alisson, while the first non-Klopp era player on the list is Alan Kennedy, who won 11 fewer in his first 250 matches thank Van Dijk.
Sixth on that list is Mo Salah, who returned to the team for the first time since New Year’s Day, on Saturday.
Immediately it was apparent he was on his game and ready to make an impact on the run-in. Despite coming on in the 44th minute, his stats stood out.
FotMob gave him the highest ranking of any player on the pitch (8.4) and had the joint-most touches in the opposition area of any Liverpool player – Luis Diaz and he touched the ball seven times in Brentford‘s area.
The crucial stats, that Salah has been so good at producing over the years, read one goal and one assist for the Egyptian – not bad for a player returning from a hamstring injury.
Salah wasn’t the only Liverpool forward who played well. In fact, all of Liverpool’s five attackers managed a goal and/or assist against Brentford.
Cody Gakpo is the fourth player to score 10+ goals for Liverpool this season, after Salah (19), Jota (14), and Núñez (13) – in #LFC‘s 38th game.
It’s the earliest into a season LFC have had 4 players on 10 goals since 1980-81 (31st game – McDermott, Souness, Dalglish, Johnson).
— Michael Reid (@michael_reid11) February 17, 2024
The above stat from Opta’s Michael Reid shows just how well Liverpool have done to spread the goals around this season, something needed while injuries plague the squad.
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