Paul Heckingbottom’s reportedly impending exit from Sheffield United will have had many a Liverpool fan’s eyes rolling ahead of the two sides’ meeting on Wednesday.

Regardless, BBC columnist Chris Sutton hasn’t any doubt that the Reds will still make short work of the Blades in South Yorkshire.

“Paul Heckingbottom’s departure as Sheffield United manager appears to be imminent, and it will not exactly be surprising to see him go after their past couple of results against Bournemouth and Burnley,” the pundit wrote for BBC Sport.

“A new voice always makes the first game after a change of manager really interesting but, whether or not Chris Wilder gets the job, I don’t see it making much difference for the Blades here, because what worries me is how brittle they are at the back.

“Liverpool did amazingly well to come back to beat Fulham on Sunday and they are right in the thick of the title race now. This should be a much more straightforward victory for Jurgen Klopp’s side, who have got the firepower to win comfortably.”

The Merseysiders find themselves in second-place in the Premier League following a remarkable 4-3 win over Fulham.

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Another must-win for Jurgen Klopp’s men

Though the possibility of a new coach in the opposing technical area always fills fans with a sense of dread over the anticipated ‘new manager bounce’ phenomenon, it’s worth pointing out that we’re still coming up against the worst defence in the league.

Our hosts-to-be have already conceded a whopping 39 goals this term – 19 of which were shipped at Bramall Lane – which is hardly a positive indication of their defensive credentials.

Coming off the back of four goals registered against Marco Silva’s men at Anfield, this is a Liverpool side full of confidence and, evidently, goals.

Though nothing is certain in the Premier League, the signs aren’t exactly comforting for our hosts.

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The post ‘What worries me’: BBC pundit predicts Liverpool vs Sheffield United result ahead of ‘imminent’ change appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.

Chris Sutton is expecting one Liverpool player to reach a significant milestone in Sunday afternoon’s Premier League clash against Fulham at Anfield.

If Mo Salah preserves his record of scoring in every top-flight home game so far this season, he’ll net his 200th for the Reds today, and the ex-Blackburn striker has backed the Egyptian to do just that.

Giving his weekend predictions to BBC Sport, the 50-year-old wrote: “Liverpool picked up an important point at Etihad Stadium last weekend but all three are needed here. 

“The Reds are without goalkeeper Alisson and Diogo Jota but they should be able to cope without them. I fancy Mohamed Salah to score, and Jurgen Klopp’s side to win comfortably.”

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The smart money would definitely appear to be on Salah becoming a double centurion in terms of goals scored, which’d make him just the fifth player in Liverpool’s 131-year history to do so (lfchistory.net).

He netted in both games against Fulham last season and has been on the scoresheet in eight of his nine matches at Anfield so far this term, with Union Saint-Gilloise in early October the only visitors to thwart him (Transfermarkt).

Even if the Cottagers succeed in making him wait for his 200th Reds goal, the likes of Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz are all more than capable of inflicting hardship on Marco Silva’s backline.

Jurgen Klopp will take a win irrespective of who finds the target for Liverpool, but we expect that Salah will reach the double ton sooner rather than later.

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The post ‘I fancy…’ – BBC pundit expects Liverpool milestone to be reached against Fulham this afternoon appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.

Chris Sutton believes Liverpool ‘should be able to cope’ without the services of Alisson Becker and Diogo Jota for Sunday’s clash with Fulham.

The Craven Cottage outfit travel to Merseyside fresh off the back of a controversial 3-2 victory over Wolves at the start of the week while Jurgen Klopp’s side drew 1-1 with Manchester City last weekend and thrashed LASK 4-0 at Anfield on Thursday night.

Alisson and Jota picked up injuries at the Etihad but Sutton thinks the Reds will still have enough to earn a much needed three points against Fulham.

“Fulham got a good win against Wolves on Monday, helped by a couple of big decisions going their way. They will need some more good fortune to get anything at Anfield, and I really don’t see that happening,” Sutton told BBC Sport.

“Liverpool picked up an important point at Etihad Stadium last weekend but all three are needed here.

“The Reds are without goalkeeper Alisson and Diogo Jota but they should be able to cope without them. I fancy Mohamed Salah to score, and Jurgen Klopp’s side to win comfortably.

“Liverpool 3-0 Fulham.”

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Caoimhin Kelleher is expected to once again deputise for the injured Alisson and it would be brilliant to see the Irishman keep another clean sheet.

It would give him a huge boost in confidence ahead of the run in the side he’s expected to receive in the build up to Christmas.

Marco Silva’s side do have some quality players at the top end of the pitch who have the ability to cause us problems so we need to ensure we’re right at it from the start.

Let’s hope Sutton’s prediction is spot on to ensure we keep pace with league leaders Arsenal who face Wolves tomorrow at the Emirates.

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Liverpool performed well against Manchester City on Saturday and can be pleased with the point they earned at the Etihad.

But despite a number of strong performances from Jurgen Klopp’s players, most notably Trent Alexander-Arnold who dragged the Reds level 10 minutes from time with a superb strike, the Scouser has been on the receiving end of some bizarre criticism from Chris Sutton.

The 50-year-old has claimed the England international can’t defend and believes he was at fault for City’s opener during the 1-1 draw.

Sutton told It’s All Kicking Off (via Rousing The Kop): “I know everybody loves forward-thinking right-backs and nobody is disputing Trent Alexander-Arnold isn’t one of the most wonderful passers of the ball the Premier League has ever seen. But bottom line, you are right about Doku [giving him a torrid time] and can Alexander-Arnold defend? He can’t.

“He struggles. And actually, the goal that he scored, his positioning was so bad and you look at it in the first instance, he’s quite high up when he should drop, and Doku goes past Matip and Haaland has the deflected effort and Liverpool go up the other end.

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“His goal is brilliant but there are both sides to the game. And are we looking for just ball-playing attacking full-backs? In one vs one situations that’s when you find out who is a really good defender.”

Our No. 66 has been praised by Virgil van Dijk following the game with the Netherlands international claiming the right back is the ‘complete package’.

It’s almost as if Sutton is purposely attempting to be controversial.

Jeremy Doku is a seriously talented player but Alexander-Arnold defended pretty well against the winger all afternoon and was the hero for his side with a late leveller.

There’s no doubt that the 25-year-old, who Klopp labelled as ‘super influential’ recently (via Irish Independent), can tighten up the defensive side of his game but he receives far more criticism than he deserves.

He’s a world-class talent and someone who has reinvented the full-back role since making his debut back in 2016.

The Academy graduates long-term future may lie in midfield but he’s doing a superb job at the moment in his current inverted role.

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Chris Sutton has admitted he ‘felt deflated’ when Liverpool dropped points against Luton on Sunday because he wants ‘there to be a title race’.

The Reds currently find themselves three points adrift of league leaders Manchester City after 11 games following their 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road.

Speaking after the game ex-Red Jamie Carragher claimed Jurgen Klopp’s side ‘are not ready’ to win the Premier League this season but Sutton has claimed the Anfield outfit will challenge Pep Guardiola’s side this term.

“Do I think Liverpool will win the league? No, I don’t think Liverpool will win the league. Do I think that they can really put a challenge in on Manchester City? Yes, so I don’t know why Jamie Carragher has written them off as such,” Sutton told the Daily Mail’s It’s All Kicking Off! podcast (via Liverpool Echo).

Luton took the lead through a Tahith Chong strike 10 minutes from time before second half substitute Luis Diaz equalised for the Reds with a brilliant header in added time.

Liverpool missed a number of chances while the game was still goalless, including a shocking miss from Darwin Nunez, and Sutton believes ‘it’s moments like that’ which could cost Klopp’s side at the end of the season.

“As well as Luton played and they did play well, really resilient, Liverpool still missed a lot of chances – big chances,” he added. “Jota had the one in the first half where he tried to beat the keeper and his near post though the the easier option would have been to just to go across the goalkeeper into the far corner.

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“But your mate Darwin, Darwin Nunez. A player I think who we both like, he scored a brilliant goal didn’t he, against Bournemouth. I mean, an unbelievable goal. And then he goes from that to that miss…

“And it’s moments like that if you want to challenge Manchester City… I felt, I’m not a Liverpool fan and I have nothing against Luton but I felt deflated a little bit because you want there to be a title race.

“Every time Liverpool drop points… you know, we’ve got Arsenal fanboys on the production here who are desperate for Arsenal to win the league and maybe that was some of (Mikel) Arteta’s frustration that they know they can’t keep dropping points with Manchester City.”

Our record against the bottom teams cost us massively last term and it’s imperative that we improve our record this time around if we’re to have any hope of challenging for the title and returning to the Champions League.

Luton deserve credit for the effort they put in and their ability to stick to their game plan but we had numerous chances to take the lead but simply weren’t clinical enough.

We travel to Toulouse on Thursday in the Europa League before welcoming Brentford to Anfield this weekend where we’ll hope to get back to winning ways.

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Liverpool supporters knew that the club would be hoping to bounce back from a disappointing campaign last time out and all hope that this will result in us once again challenging at the top of the Premier League for the biggest prize on offer.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club, Chris Sutton said: “I think Liverpool will be a bigger challenger to Manchester City than Arsenal”.

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Given the strong start to the campaign from both Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, even with a poor start from Manchester City, it seems that we have somewhat been downplayed as serious title contenders at this point in the season.

However, this may act as a reminder that we’re a long way from the conclusion in May and the Reds are very much in the race for silverware – although the idea of us being underdogs probably works for Jurgen Klopp at this point in proceedings.

You can watch Sutton’s thoughts on Liverpool via BBC Sport:

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Chris Sutton has backed Liverpool to be a ‘bigger challenger’ to Manchester City’s title defence than Arsenal this season.

The 50-year-old pointed to the club’s summer business, which has significantly strengthened their midfield department.

That said, there was some concern expressed for the Reds’ £136.25m defensive department (taking into account transfer fees paid for Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Kostas Tsimikas, Joe Gomez, Ibrahima Konate).

“Just because of the midfield players they’ve bought, but the rotation which they can have in forward areas – and you never leave Salah out – but they’ve got so many good options in forward areas,” the BBC Sport pundit spoke on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club.

“I’m still slightly worried about them defensively.

“I was at the Etihad at the weekend and Manchester City were brilliant in the first-half but they’re looking a little bit… not going to say vulnerable but I think Liverpool will be a bigger challenger to City than Arsenal will.”

The Merseysiders currently find themselves fourth in the Premier League table, only a point behind Manchester City and Arsenal and three behind league leaders Tottenham.

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It’s still very early doors, though Jurgen Klopp’s men are looking very much value for money this term – in stark contrast to the downturn in fortunes experienced in 2022/23.

Sutton’s right to address the backline, however, amid ongoing concerns over Ibrahima Konate’s injury-proneness (not to forget Joel Matip in that conversation either) and the lack of suitable cover for Virgil van Dijk.

To a certain degree, of course, it won’t necessarily be possible to have like-for-like cover for every top talent in the squad, though we’d like to think that signing a left-footed centre-back will be made a priority for the next two windows in light of limited availability.

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Chris Sutton has predicted there’ll be a five-goal thriller when Liverpool travel to the south coast to take on Brighton later today.

Both sides were in Europa League action on Thursday with Jurgen Klopp’s side defeating Union SG 2-0 at Anfield while the Seagulls came from two goals down to draw against Marseille in France.

Brighton defeated the Reds twice at the Amex last season in both the Premier League and FA Cup but following Klopp’s rejuvenation of his midfield in the summer Sutton is expecting a 3-2 win for the Merseysiders.

“Brighton shipped six goals last week and I think Liverpool will be able to get at them down the flanks,” Sutton told BBC Sport. “Mohamed Salah looks in particularly good form at the moment – but if the Reds don’t win this game then I suppose they will want a replay, won’t they?

“I like Reds boss Jurgen Klopp but, if that happened, it would turn football into a total farce. Everyone would want every game replayed over any contentious decision that has gone against them, which is absolutely ridiculous.

“Of course they were unlucky against Tottenham and that was a horrendous decision to disallow Luis Diaz’s goal, but Liverpool have to take a bit of responsibility themselves over the red cards for Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota – I really cannot understand why they appealed against Jones’ sending-off.

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“The Seagulls played in Marseille on Thursday and we are still waiting to really see how European football will affect them this season.

“Yes, they beat Bournemouth a few days after playing AEK Athens last month, but this is a much tougher task for them.

“Brighton beat Liverpool twice at the Amex Stadium last season – 3-0 in the league and 2-1 in the FA Cup – but this is a different Liverpool side, especially in midfield. I can see Alexis Mac Allister shining on his old patch, and taking home the points.”

It will be by no means an easy game on the south coast despite the 6-1 thrashing Brighton received at Villa Park last week.

Roberto De Zerbi deserves huge credit for the work he has done since replacing Graham Potter last September and his side are extremely enjoyable to watch.

Liverpool need to be right at it and will be eager to return to winning ways in the Premier League following last weekend’s VAR blunder that cost us at least a point against Spurs.

We’ll be without Curtis Jones in midfield due to suspension while Diogo Jota will also miss the game following his red card at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Cody Gakpo, Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajcetic will all miss out through injury but let’s hope we have enough to earn a huge three points ahead of the impending international break.

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Chris Sutton has offered his score prediction for Liverpool’s clash with Spurs.

Jurgen Klopp’s side, who have taken 16 points from a possible 18 in the Premier League this term, travel to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium fresh off the back of a 3-1 League Cup defeat of Leicester at Anfield.

Ange Postecoglou’s side have been praised for their attacking style of play this term but Sutton has tipped the visitors to earn a 3-2 victory in north London.

“You’ve probably noticed I’ve always been a fan of Ange Postecoglou, but he has been absolutely phenomenal since he arrived at Spurs,” Sutton told BBC Sport. “I love the way he sticks to his guns with the way his teams play. It was the same against Arsenal last weekend, and they will go for it in this game too.

“I could make a case for either team to win it, but I just have a feeling Liverpool will snatch it. What I know for certain is that there will be plenty of goals.

“Tottenham will definitely cause Liverpool some problems and it’s great to see Son Heung-min back on top form, but the same will apply when Jurgen Klopp’s side attack, and Reds striker Darwin Nunez looks really dangerous at the moment.

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“We’ve already seen Liverpool win at Newcastle with 10 men this season and their forward line is capable of scoring against anyone, even when they are not playing well, and they have got some goals in midfield from Dominik Szoboszlai too.

“I remember Mark Chapman claiming on the Monday Night Club a few weeks ago that Szoboszlai’s size-seven feet mean he hits the ball with a different trajectory.

“If that’s the case then it’s working, as we saw from his terrific goal against Leicester in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.

“Spurs 2-3 Liverpool.”

James Maddison and Son Heung-min are bound to cause us problems tomorrow so we need our defensive players to be on their A game.

We also need our creative players to be at their best as well as Spurs are yet to taste defeat in the league this term and will be eager to continue their impressive start.

We’ve showed on numerous occasions already this term that we have the ability to bounce back when conceding first but getting the first goal could be imperative tomorrow.

It’ll be interesting to see what starting XI Klopp selects in the capital

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One BBC pundit has backed Liverpool to keep one sequence going against West Ham on Sunday while also bucking another recent trend.

Jurgen Klopp’s side have won their last five matches in all competitions and are unbeaten in 17 games stretching back to the start of April, but they’ve had to come from behind in all but one match of their current winning streak.

Chris Sutton doesn’t envisage a continuation of that alarming habit at the weekend, though, even if he believes David Moyes’ side could make it a tough contest at Anfield.

In his weekend predictions for BBC Sport, the ex-Blackburn striker has predicted a 2-0 win for Liverpool, writing: “I love the defensive discipline of David Moyes’ sides and the way he thinks as a manager. He knows what his team’s strengths are, and plays to them.

“The Hammers will be difficult to break down at Anfield and they will counter-attack when they do get the ball back.

“It’s Liverpool’s forwards who will decide this game, though. They have got so many dangerous attackers that they can rotate and cause all sorts of different problems.

“I liked their response when they found a way to win after falling behind against Wolves, and I think they will find a way through West Ham’s defence too.”

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We’ll take a continuation of the winning sequence no matter how it comes, but Klopp and Liverpool fans would certainly like to see it accomplished with a clean sheet in tow.

It’d obviously be of much more concern if the Reds were scoring first and losing games than the other way around, but the habit of falling behind is a worrying one and just isn’t sustainable in the long run.

The first-half performances away to Wolves and LASK in particular were well short of the standards we know this team is capable of reaching, and against a West Ham side who’ve had their own strong start to the season, we can ill afford to be so slow out of the blocks once again.

Sutton is right in saying that Liverpool have the firepower to decide the game in their favour, with four of our five senior forwards scoring either at Molineux or in Austria, and that quintet already netting 11 goals between them since the start of the season (Transfermarkt).

The past few weeks suggest that there could well be a repeat of what happened the last time these two teams met in April, when the Irons scored first at the London Stadium but succumbed to a 2-1 defeat.

Ideally the Reds can buck the curious trend of conceding the first goal and maintain the winning streak while posting what’d be just their second clean sheet of the campaign so far.

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Chris Sutton is expecting a ‘good game’ between Liverpool and Aston Villa at Anfield on Sunday.

Unai Emery’s side were thrashed 5-1 by Newcastle on the opening weekend but have reacted well with successive victories over Everton and Burnley.

The Reds have also started the campaign well and remain unbeaten after last weekend’s thrilling 2-1 defeat of Newcastle at St. James’ Park but are somewhat sweating on the future of Mo Salah with Saudi outfit Al-Ittihad remaining interested despite seeing an offer of £150m already rejected.

“This one will be a good game,” Sutton told BBC Sport. “Unai Emery’s teams are well-organised. They got thumped at Newcastle in their first game but have responded well.

“I like the look of Liverpool this season and as long as Mo Salah stays I think they can be the ones who really challenge Manchester City.

“I think they’ll find a way in this one and beat Aston Villa.

“Liverpool 2-1 Aston Villa.”

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Jurgen Klopp has already warned of the threat that Villa will pose at L4 this weekend.

They have real quality in their squad and it’s no doubt that their Spanish tactician will set them up to try and catch us on the counter attack.

We’ll be without our first-choice central defensive partnership of Virgil van Dijk and Ibou Konate due to suspension and injury so we need a big performance from Joel Matip and Joe Gomez.

If we can get our front three in dangerous positions and allow Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai to pull the strings there’s no reason why we can’t pick up another huge three points to head into the impending international break in a great position.

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Chris Sutton has offered his score prediction for Sunday’s clash between Newcastle and Liverpool at St. James’ Park, questioning whether the visitors’ midfield is ample enough for the task at hand.

The Reds have four points from their opening two games while Eddie Howe’s side opened their campaign with a 5-1 thrashing of Aston Villa before falling to a 1-0 lass against Manchester City at the Etihad last weekend.

Jurgen Klopp’s side were delighted to hear the news that Alexis Mac Allister’s harsh red card against Bournemouth had been overturned meaning the World Cup winner will be available for the trip to the north east – a game in which Sutton expects Liverpool to suffer their first defeat of the campaign.

“There is no great shame in losing to Manchester City,” Sutton told BBC Sport. “Liverpool beat them twice last season but Newcastle are at home and in front of their own support.

“Newcastle’s opening-day win against Aston Villa was a triumph and then it was a bit of a comedown for them. There was so much excitement that Newcastle could go there and take the game to Manchester City and they didn’t do that.

“Liverpool have so many good attacking players – Luis Diaz’s goal last week was brilliant, Diogo Jota is a handful, Mohamed Salah of course and Dominik Szoboszlai looks a talented player, but do they have that midfield protection?

“Newcastle 3-1 Liverpool.”

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It will certainly be a huge test up against the Magpies away from home but we showed our class against them last season.

We picked up a huge three points against them thanks to goals from Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo and played against ten men for more than an hour after Nick Pope was dismissed for handling the ball outside of his area.

Howe and Co. have added some new faces to their squad this summer, though including Italy international Sandro Tonali from AC Milan and talented winger Harvey Barnes from Leicester.

Winning the battle in the middle of the park is imperative against Newcastle and we therefore believe Wataru Endo will be handed his first start for the club since his arrival from Stuttgart last week.

The Japan international will need to be right on it alongside Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai but with the talent we possess in attack there’s no reason why we can’t come away with all three points!

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Chris Sutton has labelled Diogo Jota’s performance against Chelsea as ‘awful’ and has admitted he was pleased to see the Portuguese replaced by Darwin Nunez just after the hour mark.

The former Blackburn Rovers and Celtic forward was reviewing our No. 20’s performance after he selected Jota as part of his Premier League Fantasy Football team.

The former Wolves forward didn’t perform at his best at Stamford Bridge and it’ll be interesting to see if he retains his spot in the starting XI for the visit of Bournemouth to Anfield tomorrow afternoon.

“Yeah I was a bit disappointed with him at the weekend, he was awful and I was glad he got hooked off,” Sutton told BBC Radio Five Live’s Fantasy 606 Podcast (via The Boot Room). “I like Jota though, I’m going to stick with him, I am going to stick with Jota.”

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You’d like to think that our attacking players will have more of a chance to showcase their ability against the Cherries compared to the difficulties we faced in the capital last weekend.

Jurgen Klopp went for a bold starting XI against Mauricio Pochettino’s side with four forwards included in the side and we suspect he may go for same again tomorrow.

Jota can certainly improve on his performance against Chelsea but so can many of our other players.

We believe it’s somewhat harsh to label his performance as ‘awful’ but let’s hope he can perform at his best tomorrow and fire us to our first three points of the season.

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It’s fair to say that there won’t be many non-Liverpool supporters watching our game against Southampton but any who do may well be able to see Mo Salah break yet another record for the Reds.

Writing for BBC Sport, Chris Sutton predicted how he thinks our final game will pan out: ‘Southampton don’t have too many fond memories to look back on this season, especially at home where they have only won twice during the entire campaign.

‘They will be playing for pride, but that won’t be enough against a Liverpool side who have built up a bit of momentum in recent weeks.

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‘It’s been a difficult campaign for Jurgen Klopp’s side too and missing out on the Champions League is a big disappointment for them, but at least they will finish off on a bit of a high note.

‘I am expecting Mohamed Salah to score and Liverpool to win. 0-2’.

The Egyptian King is currently one goal away from becoming the first player in Premier League history to provide 20 goals and 10 assists in three seasons – he and Thierry Henry have done so twice.

That’s not the only feat he’s chasing either, with our No.11 just one goal shy of scoring 20 league goals he would also become the first player since Roger Hunt in 1965/66 to net 20 times for a third consecutive season in the league – he’d also take Robbie Fowler’s place as the top scorer against the Saints if he bags twice.

An appearance for Jurgen Klopp’s side would mean Alisson Becker and our 30-year-old striker would be the only players to feature in every game in the league campaign too.

Despite all these stats and facts though, it’s hard to ignore that this is one of the first times in many years that we’ve had nothing to play for on the last match of the season and that this year has been a failure.

What we all must ensure is that we remember this feeling of Europa League football and no silverware but are ready from the first second of the new campaign to go and win everything within our sights.

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Cody Gakpo scored what would have been a vital equaliser against Aston Villa but the lengthy delay for an offside to be checked by the officials led to the goal not standing and it’s safe to say that nobody really understand why it was disallowed.

Inside the BT Sport Score studio before the goal was chalked off, Peter Walton was confidently stating that it was about to stand even with the VAR check being completed.

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However, when the goal was taken away eventually from us, the faces of Chris Sutton and Robbie Savage explained the feelings of everyone and they couldn’t believe it had been overruled.

By the letter of the law, the right decision was made but only if you think Ezri Konsa didn’t deliberately play the ball and it seems impossible to think that the defender in that area of the pitch wouldn’t be trying anything to stop a cross entering the box.

You can watch the mass confusion within the studio via @btsportscore on Twitter:

Liverpool's ruled out goal by VAR has left the team scratching their heads #BTSportScore pic.twitter.com/PHptRwqoDO

— BT Sport Score (@btsportscore) May 20, 2023

Book Launch: Crossing the Park with Steve McMahon and Kevin Sheedy

The post (Video) Pundits bemused as Gakpo’s goal ruled out for offside; even Peter Walton thought it would stand appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.