Liverpool played out a relatively low-key 1-0 win over Fulham on Wednesday night to record their fifth Premier League win in a row.
In the end a first-half Mohamed Salah penalty was enough, but the Reds were far from convincing here. A disjointed attack fed to a sense that Liverpool never fully hit their straps.
As often has been the case, they were thankful for a late Alisson Becker super save to keep the three points. Here’s how we rated the players at Anfield.
Defence
Alisson Becker: 8 – Did well to tip a goal-bound Carlos Vinicius strike over in the first-half. Didn’t have much to do before making an enormous one-on-one save from the same player with 15 minutes left. A massive right bear paw to keep Liverpool ahead.
Trent Alexander-Arnold: 8 Man of the Match – Brilliant once again. Comfortably Liverpool’s main threat when on the ball. One lovely pirouhette sent Joao Palhinha for a hot dog. Pulled the strings all day long. What a player.
Ibrahima Konate: 8 – Superbly physical from the get-go. One perfect sliding interception when Sasa Lukic looked in. Adapting well to his new right-sided role against the tricky Willian.
Virgil van Dijk: 8 – Matched Konate for physicality and made a sublime sliding clearance to prevent a certain goal at 0-0.
Kostas Tsimikas: 5 – Allowed Harry Wilson to run off him dangerously in the first-half. A few sloppy passes followed as he struggled to get up to the pace of the game. Rightly subbed off. A difficult evening on a rare start for the £11.7m man.
Midfield
Fabinho: 6 – Decent display from Fabinho who covered well and won the ball back gamely. Still looks a little leggy with the ball at his feet.
Jordan Henderson: 6 – Slowed down a couple of fast-paced attacks first-half with hesitancy on the ball. Got better as the game went on, but can do better.
Curtis Jones: 7 – The best of Liverpool’s midfield three without a doubt. Showed good energy to win the ball back continuously but didn’t use it as well as he could have.
Attack
Mohamed Salah: 7 – Took Antonee Robinson outside and in as he varied his attacking play. One beautiful slinky run near the touchline should have brought a goal but made the wrong decision with the shot. Took his penalty well.
Darwin Nunez: 6 – Got the nod ahead of Cody Gakpo but didn’t do enough to suggest he’ll stay there. Does brilliantly to win the penalty but otherwise looks out of sync with his teammates at present. Liverpool look a worse team with him in it right now.
Luis Diaz: 7 – One or two trademark Diaz runs aside, there wasn’t too much to get excited about. Looks so threatening at times but still hands onto the ball a second too long in forward areas. Typically industrious out of possession which is a big bonus. Another 65 in the tank
Substitutes
Cody Gakpo: 6 – Imprvoed Liverpool’s attacking output when he came on. One lovely waltz forward to win a free-kick high up the pitch and picked the ball up in dangerous pockets as usual.
Andy Robertson: 6 – An improvement on Tsimikas, but not much doing for the left-back this evening.
Diogo Jota: 5 – Came on and made a simple pass to Andy Robertson look shockingly difficult. Straight out of play as the left-back raced on.
Harvey Elliott: 7 – Injected some energy into Liverpool and won a couple of important challenges high up the pitch.
James Milner: N/A