π° Table Of Contents
Pre-Match Social Media Commentary
Liverpool haven’t lost at Leeds since November 2000.
*That* game where Mark Viduka put FOUR past the Reds π€
(via @premierleague)pic.twitter.com/7jNRCJNFjk
β B/R Football (@brfootball) April 17, 2023
π£οΈ βI think for a while now for me Liverpool need to send a message of where they could be next season.β@Carra23 on what he wants from Liverpool for the rest of the season. pic.twitter.com/pDJJv6SJ6o
β Football Daily (@footballdaily) April 17, 2023
π Marc: “We’re ready to go again” pic.twitter.com/HvhUa0xfpC
β Leeds United (@LUFC) April 17, 2023
Mohamed Salah has scored seven goals in his four previous starts against Leeds, averaging 13.3 points per match π―
Will he produce a return in #LEELIV? π¨οΈ#FPL pic.twitter.com/nOWqfB01Xc
β Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) April 17, 2023
Liverpool continued their penchant for massive results across what has been a frustrating 2022-23 Premier League season by their standards after the Reds ruthlessly put relegation-candidates Leeds United to the sword in a 6-1 thrashing at Elland Road this evening.
Though the England giants are likely to not secure Champions League football come the end of the season as they remain eighth in the table, perhaps the result tonight against a hapless Leeds outfit was proof that an impending squad rebuild on Merseyside will not need to be as drastic as many have claimed in previous moments across the season.
Liverpool πππ«ππ¨π©ππ©π Leeds’ defence π΄π₯ pic.twitter.com/7YGkwCkTfm
β Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 17, 2023
Leeds found the first real chance of the match just seven minutes after kick-off when Rodrigo was left free and clear in the box after the Whites earned a freekick down the left-hand channel, but the Spanish striker could only tamely head his effort at Alisson who comfortably collected.
Though the home side looked the more likely to bag the first goal after Liverpool continued to labor in the attacking third, JΓΌrgen Kloppβs Reds finally broke the deadlock in the 35th minute through January signing Cody Gakpo who only had to tap in from inside two yards after Mohamed Salah found the overlapping run from Trent Alexander-Arnold who only had to play across the face of goal to the Dutch international.
Questions will once again surround VAR after Alexander-Arnold looked to clearly commit a handball in the build-up, but no call was made and the goal was allowed to stand.
The Redsβ rapid counter-attack doubled their advantage just three minutes later after Weston McKennie was dispossessed in the middle third of the pitch by Diogo Jota, who sprang forward into space before putting Salah into enough space in the right-half space to slot home past Illan Meslier.
It would not last long, however, after Liverpool restored their two-goal advantage in the 52nd minute when Jota was picked out by Curtis Jones with a fantastic diagonal through ball for the former Wolves man to dispatch his bending effort just inside the far post, with Leeds picked apart far too easily once again.
Things went from bad to worse for Leeds when Liverpool bagged a fourth in the 64th minute after the Reds broke cleanly from the defensive third through combination play between Robertson and Jota before the Scottish defender found Gakpo who laid off to Salah to bend a first-time strike into the back of the net to secure all three points Kloppβs troops.
107* πͺ https://t.co/Za4dRzgLNB pic.twitter.com/o8yg1UzEN5
β Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 17, 2023
For the second consecutive match at Elland Road Leeds would surrender five on the night, with Jota popping up once again nine minutes after Salahβs strike to make it 5-1 on the night. The Portuguese winger was just outside the area when he beat Meslier with a low drive after being unmarked eighteen yards out and in plenty of space for Jordan Henderson to turn provider.
Despite Klopp shuffling his pack with four changes to see out the result, substitute Darwin NΓΊΓ±ez found the back of the net just one minute before added time thanks to another TAA assist (his second on the night) to put Pool 6-1 up across another humiliating Leeds performance this season. It was the first time that Leeds have ever lost a Premier League match at home by five goals or more, and seemingly offered a possible death knell during a season that may end in yet another relegation heartbreak.
Leeds United officially have the πͺπ’π₯π¦π§ defence in the Premier League this season π pic.twitter.com/V5YUQQTrYc
β Football Daily (@footballdaily) April 17, 2023
Come full-time, few Leeds supporters will feel confident that the club can stave off the drop-down to the Championship after the Yorkshire side officially boats the worst defensive record in the Premier League. As for Liverpool, the performance is a reminder to the rest of the top clubs in England just what they are truly capable of when theyβre in the mood, and they still could have something to say in the table before the end of the current 2022-23 campaign.
Key Stats & Performers
Liverpool scored 2 goals from 4.76(xG) against Arsenal, then 6 goals from 2.40(xG) against Leeds.
β The xG Philosophy (@xGPhilosophy) April 17, 2023
Leeds 1-6 Liverpool
xG: 1.43-2.34IncREDibly clinical from the visitors.#LFC | #LEELIV pic.twitter.com/gZIoYJAp7o
β Sporting Life Football & Infogol (@InfogolApp) April 17, 2023
Liverpool have scored 6+ goals in three different Premier League games this season:
β 9-0 vs. Bournemouth
β 7-0 vs. Manchester United
β 1-6 vs. Leeds UnitedAs many matches as every other team combined. β¨οΈ pic.twitter.com/S0gFB6HBft
β Squawka (@Squawka) April 17, 2023
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s game by numbers vs. Leeds:
153 touches
136 passes
91% pass accuracy
34 final β passes
20 passes into final β
17 long passes
11 x possession won
3 tackles made
2 clearances
2 through balls
2 assistsLetting him cook in midfield. π¨βπ³ pic.twitter.com/FhFCurp2U0
β Squawka Live (@Squawka_Live) April 17, 2023
βοΈ Player of the Match, @LFCβs Mohamed Salah
63 touches, 8 in opposition box
42/54 passes completed
3 shots, 2 on target, 2 goalsβ½οΈ Most PL goals v Leeds
20 Shearer
10 Henry
9 Sheringham, Salah pic.twitter.com/GqPSdelYqVβ Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) April 17, 2023
Leeds United Player Ratings
- GK: Illan Meslier – 4
- RB: Rasmus Kristensen – 5.5
- RCB: Robin Koch – 5.5
- LCB: Pascal Struijk – 6
- LB: Junior Firpo – 5
- RCM: Weston McKennie – 5.5
- LCM: Marc Roca – 6
- CAM: Brenden Aaronson – 6.5
- RW: Jack Harrison – 6.5
- LW: Luis Sinisterra – 7
- CF: Rodrigo – 6
- Sub: Georginio Rutter – 6
- Sub: Crysencio Summerville – 6.5
- Sub: Adam Forshaw – 6
- Sub: Wilfried Gnonto – 6
Liverpool Player Ratings
- GK: Alisson – 6.5
- RB: Trent Alexander-Arnold – 8.5
- RCB: Ibrahima KonatΓ© – 6.5
- LCB: Virgil van Dijk – 7.5
- LB: Andrew Robertson – 7.5
- DM: Fabinho – 7
- RCM: Jordan Henderson – 7.5
- LCM: Curtis Jones – 8
- RW: Mohamed Salah – 9
- LW: Diogo Jota – 9
- CF: Cody Gakpo – 8.5
- Sub: Darwin NΓΊΓ±ez – 7
- Sub: Luis DΓaz – 6
- Sub: James Milner – 6
- Sub: Roberto Firmino – 6
- Sub: Thiago – 6
