Main reason why Liverpool are not in action this weekend
Liverpool are not in Premier League action until January 21 when they travel to Bournemouth
Jurgen Klopp
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has a weekend off
Liverpool will take a one-goal lead to Craven Cottage later this month after fighting from behind to defeat Fulham 2-1 at Anfield in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.
Willian scored a 19th-minute opener to put Marco Silva’s side ahead a stun Anfield before Darwin Nunez came off the bench to provide assists for Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo in the space of three second-half minutes.
Wednesday, though, will be Liverpool’s last competitive fixture for 11 days as they, and other sides in the Premier League, are afforded a weekend off due to a recently introduced winner break.
This season will be just the Premier League’s second-ever mid-season break since the concept was welcomed into the English schedule for the first time in the 2019/20 season.
The hiatus, which was agreed upon in June 2018, means that gameweek 21 is played over two weekends, with five fixtures on each weekend. Liverpool will travel to Bournemouth on the second weekend, January 21 with Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur the standout fixture of this weekend’s action.
Asked after Wednesday’s semi-final win at Anfield if he was excited about the upcoming break in the Premier League calendar, Klopp said: “My English is not good enough to put that in words.”
After returning to Premier League action on January 21, the Reds are set for a hectic fixture schedule until the March international break with a minimum of 13 games set to be played in that time.
This year will be the first time Liverpool have been properly afforded a winter break, with an FA Cup fourth-round replay with Shrewsbury Town disrupting their ‘free week’ back in February 2020. However, Klopp still persisted with his plans to embark on a warm-weather training camp and instead left then under-21s manager Neil Critchley to field an academy side for the cup replay at Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp justified for being scared of Manchester City.
“We are coming for the League” — Guardiola warns Liverpool
Pep Guardiola has sounded the warning to whoever will listen after defeating Newcastle United at the St. James’ Park to go 2-points within touching distance of premier league leaders, Liverpool.
When Liverpool boss, Jurgen Klopp told the press that the whole of England was fretting at the potential return of Kevin De Bruyne to the Manchester City team, his words sounded like an over-exaggeration.
However, in the aftermath of the premier league clash versus Newcastle United, those words now prove genuine as the Etihad side fought their way from seeming defeat to beat the Magpies and strengthen their challenge on the premier league title.
And of course, what better way to justify Klopp’s fears than for the master mind of that result to be the inevitable, Kevin De Bruyne.
In a mere 21 minutes of play against Newcastle, De Bruyne left an indelible mark on the pitch, delivering a goal and an assist to help the Cityzens claim all 3-points.
Within 21 minutes, KDB registered statistics of a goal, an assist, 35 touches, 17 accurate passes with a 77% pass accuracy, 3 key passes, 1 accurate cross, 1 shot on target, and winning 1 aerial duel, and that’s not leaving out Erling Haaland who did not feature in the team.
Speaking to reporters, post-match, Pep Guardiola rings warning to Liverpool, stating to those who cared to listen;
Raheem Sterling won a spot kick for Chelsea after he was fouled by Issa Diop of Fulham’s penalty area on match day 21 of 2023/24 EPL season. This brought the total number penalties won by the winger in the Premiership to 26. He has now won more spot kicks than any footballer in Premier League history. How did he achieve this feat?
Raheem Sterling of Chelsea
Sterling began this Englgish top flight career at Liverpool. The England international earned 4 penalties in as many seasons with the Reds. He switched allegiance to Manchester City in the summer of 2015/16. Interestingly, he only managed to win one spot kick in his debut season with the Citizens.
Before leaving the Sky Blues, the Jamaican-born forward earned a total of 19 penalties. Meanwhile, his highest tally in a season was 6. He achieved this in 2017/18 season. Since he moved to Chelsea in 2022, Sterling has won 3 more spot kicks. In fact, no player has earned as many as the Englishman so far this season.
Sterling in action
The closest players to the 4-time Premier League champion is Jamie Vardy his compatriot. The former Leicester star won 23 penalties before getting relegated to the Championship. Wilfried Zaha, Alan Shearer and Andrew Johnson are also worthy of mention. These forwards are credited with 19, 15 and 14 sport kicks in the Premiership respectively. Interestingly, neither of them is currently playing in the English first tier. Meanwhile, the player with the highest tally among current EPL starsy is Mohamed Salah. This Egyptian king has been credited with 13(zzzsame as Danny Welbeck). The only other man that has won 12 is Ashley young.
Leave a Reply