Liverpool have the two top scorers in the Premier League this season. While <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/mohamed-salah/" target="_blank">Mohamed Salah</a> and Diogo Jota reign supreme in the division, no one at Anfield has more goals in 2022 than Fabinho. He entered the calendar year with four in his Liverpool career. A fifth since then secured victory at Burnley after a first half that was more fraught than the scoreline suggested. The theory is that successful seasons invariably involve examples of winning without playing fluently and this was one. If campaigns that end in disappointment feature fine displays that go unrewarded, Burnley may have proved that. For 45 minutes, the bottom club posed Liverpool problems in inimitable fashion. This was an old-fashioned examination, an attritional game against a physical, forceful team in awful weather. <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/liverpool/" target="_blank">Liverpool</a> prevailed in part because of an improved second-half display, with Virgil van Dijk at the heart of it. “Everything today was set up to be a banana skin for us,” said Jurgen Klopp. “The wind was coming in from all directions. It was ridiculous. I am absolutely delighted with the way we played the circumstances, it was so tricky.” But while Liverpool have scored some spectacular goals under him, this seemed among the scruffiest. It was nonetheless typical. No side has scored more Premier League goals this season from set-pieces and if Trent Alexander-Arnold’s prowess as a taker is a factor, so was the nose for goal Fabinho had long kept concealed. They created very little in open play – an early shot from Naby Keita that Nick Pope parried, a late effort from substitute Jota and an Alexander-Arnold cross that Ben Mee almost turned into his own net – but two of Alexander-Arnold’s dead-ball deliveries showed they have another avenue. A dead leg had meant Jota was removed from the starting 11. Perhaps it benefited Liverpool, with Luis Diaz benched, Sadio Mane parachuted back into the team <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/football/2022/02/06/sadio-mane-spot-on-as-senegal-win-afcon-title-after-epic-final-against-egypt/" target="_blank">after his return from the African Cup of Nations</a>. He exerted an influence. When Alexander-Arnold whipped in a free kick, Mane met it with a half-volley that Nick Pope blocked. When he curled in a corner, Mane stooped to head it on. “The space that came to Sadio was the plan but not at that height so Sad made the most of it,” Klopp said. Then Fabinho timed his run to first prod a shot that Pope saved and then poke in the rebound. “Great counter-pressing goal,” said his manager. Burnley could do with any kind of goal. They are amassing unflattering statistics, with a lone league win all season, only one at Turf Moor since January 2021 and just three goals in their last nine top-flight games. They could have doubled that tally before the break. Alisson palmed a long-range effort from Josh Brownhill away but the best chances fell the way of their strike duo. The January signing Wout Weghorst spurned the opportunities to open his Clarets account. When Burnley sprang a swift break, Ashley Westwood and Jay Rodriguez taking the ball from one penalty box to the other, Weghorst lifted his shot over Alisson, but it would have missed the goal even if Alexander-Arnold had not recovered to reach it. When released by Connor Roberts’ pass, he drilled a half-volley wide. Factor in a poor touch by Rodriguez, allowing Alisson to save, and Burnley made too little of three openings. “I am frustrated,” said manager Sean Dyche. “We have created some golden chances and we have to keep on doing that and we have got to take them.” But his side are now seven points from safety whereas Liverpool have reduced Manchester City’s lead at the summit to nine points.
