PL: Liverpool crush Luton Town and distance themselves in the lead

This Wednesday, Liverpool and Luton Town faced each other at Anfield to open the 26th day of the Premier League. Building on the last two successes obtained in style against Burnley and Brentford, the Mersey club hoped to achieve the pass of three to temporarily distance itself from its runner-up Manchester City, held in check by Chelsea at the weekend and relegated to just one length of the Reds. In tough times these days, like their latest defeat against Manchester United, the promoted side intended to capitalize on the result gleaned at home during the first leg to hope for a similar feat. It is clear, looking at the first 45 minutes, that the Bedfordshire club played their luck bravely. Despite a first big opportunity to the credit of Liverpool where Luis Diaz distinguished himself by hitting Kaminski’s post, it was Luton who took control very early in the game through Ogbene (0- 1, 12e). Picked cold, the men of Jürgen Klopp and Luis Diaz nevertheless proved too imprecise in front of the opposing goal to equalize before the break.

Returning from the locker room, the Mersey club showed its fangs. Entrenched in their camp, the Hatters suffered the law of the Reds who found the fault through Van Dijk, at the conclusion of a corner well taken by Mac Allister (1-1, 56th). Then, it was Gakpo’s turn to be served by the Argentinian to score with a header and give his team the advantage before the hour mark (2-1, 59th). Messy during the first act, Luis Diaz rectified the target in the 71st minute to finally deceive Kaminski’s vigilance and add his stone to the building (3-1) before Eliott added to the score at the end of the game with a umpteenth Liverpool offensive (4-1, 90th). Jostled by an enterprising Luton team, Liverpool managed to consolidate their domination in the second half to provisionally take a four-point lead over their direct competitor. With this new defeat, the third in a row, Luton remains stuck in 18th place but remains in contact with the first non-relegation team, Everton.