Liverpool 3-1 Leicester: Reds move SEVEN points clear at the top of the Premier League after surviving an early scare from the Foxes

They’ve grown accustomed, over the years, to the thick fog which can drift up to this place from the Mersey and obscure the way. It was more disorientating than usual last night: eddies of mist cloaking the pitch one minute, clearing the next and clouding the way was clouded once more.

But Liverpool are a side seeing and playing with utmost clarity of thought these days and after a challenging start, were undeterred in their quest to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points, with a game in hand.

A few chants of ‘top of the league’ rang out as the path finally became clearer – faint and tentative at first, as if no one dared even tempt fate about how this all might all turn out. 

A side once fuelled by shots of electricity are proceeding on the quiet side, calmly and inexorably. For 39 tense minutes after they conceded the opening goal, there was no temptation to throw the sink at Leicester. But by the end of the night, an equaliser had extended into the 22nd win in Arne Slot’s 26th game at the Liverpool helm.

Liverpool’s prior experiences in fog had not generally been so good. There was a Super Cup tie here against Anderlecht here in 1978, when ended in aggregate defeat, not to mention the 5-1 defeat in Amsterdam in 1966 which had Bill Shankly insisting Ajax ‘got lucky.’

But complacency is what they fear most. Every self-respecting Liverpool fan knows that the club have been leaders on Christmas Day seven times in the Premier League era and have – of course – only gone on to win the title on one of those occasions.

The Egyptian produced a stunning finish beyond the flailing Jakub Stolarczyk in the 82nd minute

The Foxes had taken a shock early lead when Jordan Ayew steered a finish past Alisson in the sixth minute 

‘You have my word that we will keep on working as hard as we possibly can to keep on improving,’ Arne Slot promised in his programme notes.

When the mist temporarily cleared at kick off, there was certainly something brooding and ominous about Liverpool’s patient, calculated build-up; the sign of winners toying with their inferiors.

But then the eddies of mist returned and it was in the blink of an eye that one of the least probable opening goals had been fashioned by a side quite clearly motivated by Ruud van Nistelrooy. 

The blow owed plenty to Liverpool lacking defensive intensity, too. Trent Alexander Arnold allowed Stephy Mavididi to level a cross from the left and Andy Roberson allowed Jordan Ayew to bully him as he span onto a shot which was deflected in off Virgil van Dijk’s heel.

The patient, precise pre-calculation of Slot’s players continued as they went looking for parity but it was clear that they were up against a side with new purpose. For once, Leicester’s defence actually looked serviceable and robust.

Van Nistelrooy is fast becoming acquainted with the unpleasant and brutal realities of managing what has been a disastrously run club. Preparations for this game had included ditching second choice goalkeeper Danny Ward, after an ‘intense’ conversation with him and throwing in third choice Jakub Stolarczyk, a Pole who’d known loan spells at Hartlepool and Fleetwood but never – before this – the Premier League.

Stolarczyk thrived and lived on his luck as Liverpool probed what at times was a six-man thin blue line. He blocked when Curtis Jones seemed to have squirmed through. A header Andy Robertson levered against the post could easily have rebounded onto his body and in. Mo Salah curled a shot flat against his bar.

The Leicester counter-attack a was a clear and present danger. It got Joe Gomez booked and it brought a first half full of effort from Alex Mac Allister, looking to sweep up as the others in red buzzed around Leicester’s box. 

The home side hit back just before the break through Cody Gakpo, who excelled on the night

The Dutchman curled an effort in the far corner to restore parity after a frustrating first half

Curtis Jones put Liverpool ahead for the first time with a well-taken finish shortly after ther interval

Arne Slot capitalised on the slip up of their rivals to move seven points clear at the top with a game in hand

It required an act of sheer excellence to puncture the tension from Cody Gakpo, the player whose sale by PSV Eindhoven to Liverpool led van Nistelrooy to leave the club in protest last year. The Dutchman cut inside James Justin before arcing a superb strike into the top corner of the net.

From the start of the second half, Liverpool looked like a side intent on grabbing hold of the game and extending things into a win. A gorgeous move inside the Leicester box involving Salah, Mac Allister and Curtis Jones took them ahead, with Jones steering the ball into the back of the net from Mac Allister’s cross. 

There was a delay while VAR checked for a possible Salah offside, though it was clear that Liverpool were dragging Leicester’s defence down by turning them around and creating the kind of space to finish which had been missing in the first half. There was more pace to their game.

It was significant that Jones – a danger throughout should have scored, on his 100th Premier League appearance, five years since making his first appearance as a substitute under Jurgen Klopp at Bournemouth. So much of what we are witnessing is a product of the work that Klopp did in developing the squad Slot has inherited and fine-tuned.

Gakpo thought he had added a third when he hammered home a loose ball inside the box but the goal was ruled out, with Darwin Nunez ruled offside in the second phase. Instead, it was Salah who drove home the win, cutting inside Victor Kristinassen and Jennik Vesteraard to score.

‘If you’re lost in a fog, you stick together,’ Bob Paisley, Liverpool’s most successful manager once said. ‘The you don’t get lost.’