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Leicester Metropolis welcome Premier League champions Liverpool to King Energy Stadium on Saturday afternoon (12:30pm kick-off).
Forward of the weekend’s encounter with Jürgen Klopp’s side, who sit only one place and three factors under the Foxes within the Premier League standings, LCFC.com takes a more in-depth take a look at the 19-time English title winners.
The group
Liverpool possess a supremely proficient first group squad plagued by established internationals who’ve enabled the Merseyside outfit to win the sport’s largest prizes in current seasons.
Strikers Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané netted a mixed 57 objectives in all competitions final season, with the Reds’ attacking choices being bolstered by the reported £41M signing of Diogo Jota, who made a promising begin to his Liverpool profession.
The Portuguese winger scored 5 Premier League objectives and 7 in all competitions previous to a knee damage that presently guidelines him out of motion. Salah, in the meantime, is presently the Premier League’s prime scorer with 16 strikes to his title.
In all competitions, Salah is on 22 objectives this time period, whereas Mané (10), Jota (9) and Firmino (6) have all offered too.
Liverpool can even boast an admirable backbone to their conventional beginning XI with goalkeeper Alisson, centre-back Virgil van Dijk and midfielder Jordan Henderson additionally frequently starring behind a front-three, when match and out there for choice.
However accidents have been a priority for the Merseyside membership, and whereas Alisson has since returned from a shoulder damage which stored him out of 5 video games in all competitions, van Dijk (ligaments), Joe Gomez (knee) and Joel Matip (ankle ligaments) are all presently out injured.
Because of this, Liverpool moved to signal two central defenders through the January switch window, recruiting Ben Davies from Preston North Finish for a reported £2M and Ozan Kabak on mortgage from Schalke 04.
The supervisor
Successive FIFA Greatest Males’s Coach of the 12 months, Jürgen Klopp, has constructed a group thought-about to be one of many strongest in world soccer, resulting in final season’s Premier League title triumph.
Klopp’s enjoying profession noticed the Stuttgart-born defender-turned-striker make over 325 appearances for Mainz 05 between 1990 and 2001, following transient spells at 4 different golf equipment.
It was at Mainz 05 the place Klopp started forging his managerial repute after successful six of his opening seven matches, defying the chances and guiding them to security within the Bundesliga 2.
The next season introduced much more success because the youthful supervisor reworked Mainz 05 into contenders who finally completed in fourth place in German soccer’s second division.
Whereas Die Nullfünfer narrowly missed out on promotion for a second successive season in 2002/03, a third-place end throughout the next marketing campaign lastly allowed them to rise into the highest tier.
Regardless of being reported as having the smallest enjoying price range within the league, Klopp impressed Mainz 05 to successive 14th-place finishes, sealing qualification to the UEFA Cup in 2005/06.
When the membership was relegated in 2007, Klopp stayed, however in 2008, he did go away Bruchwegstadion to affix Borussia Dortmund, the place he would seal successive Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012.
Klopp’s intense enjoying type on the pitch and laid-back character off it noticed him make headlines throughout Europe – as Dortmund additionally gained the DFB-Pokal and the DFL-Supercup twice.
Nevertheless, whereas the 53-year-old was a crushed Champions League finalist at Dortmund, after 4 years of improvement at Liverpool, Klopp grew to become a European champion with the Reds in 2019.
The German has since guided the Reds to extra Tremendous Cup and Membership World Cup victories, earlier than ending a 30-year look forward to Liverpool to be topped as English champions in 2019/20.
Earlier encounters
Metropolis are presently on a seven-game run with out a victory over Liverpool, stretching again to September 2017, when objectives from Shinji Okazaki and Islam Slimani booked a 2-0 League Cup success on Filbert Method.
Liverpool have been 3-0 victors within the reverse fixture at Anfield in November 2020, due to objectives from Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino and Jonny Evans’ personal aim.
The Reds additionally got here out on prime twice final time period, narrowly beating Brendan Rodgers’ males at Anfield, though Jürgen Klopp has tasted defeated by the Foxes on two earlier events.
A brace from Jamie Vardy in February 2016, together with a breath-taking half volley from distance, got here en path to the title for Leicester in 2015/16 earlier than a 3-1 triumph 12 months later.
One other duo of strikes from Vardy bookended a wise effort from Danny Drinkwater that day as Craig Shakespeare’s Metropolis began a five-game successful run within the Premier League.
The trophy cupboard
Premier League title holders Liverpool are the second most profitable membership in English prime tier historical past, successful 19 titles, most lately being topped champions final season.
The Reds have additionally lifted the FA Cup on a outstanding seven events, whereas the Merseyside membership additionally maintain the document for many League Cup triumphs (eight).
With six UEFA Champions League (previously European Cup) successes to their title, the Reds are English soccer’s most successive representatives in Europe.
The penalty shootout victory over Chelsea within the 2019 Tremendous Cup Remaining, in the meantime, secured a fourth such title within the Anfield membership’s historical past, alongside three UEFA Cups.
Together with Group Defend (previously Charity Defend) wins and Second Division titles, Liverpool have gained 66 main honours over the course of their trophy-laden 128-year historical past.
Final season’s 1-0 win over Brazilian facet Flamengo, then again, additionally sealed their first-ever Membership World Cup success in Qatar.
The stadium
With a capability of 54,074, Anfield is the seventh largest soccer venue in England and has been Liverpool’s house since 1892, present process a number of expansions in that point.
The long-lasting Kop is among the many most well-known stands in world soccer, producing a novel environment on matchdays, alongside the Primary Stand, Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand and the Anfield Street Stand.
Gamers operating out on the stadium can be confronted by the well-known ‘This Is Anfield’ signal upon their entrance to the sphere of play, one other simply recognisable hallmark of Liverpool’s house venue.
Whereas additionally staging matches for rivals Everton between 1884 and 1892, Anfield has beforehand hosted Tremendous League and Rugby League fixtures over its complete historical past.
In 2016, Leicester Metropolis have been the guests for Liverpool’s first house match for the reason that redevelopment of Anfield’s new Primary Stand, which elevated its capability by 8,000 seats.
Upcoming fixtures
Liverpool journey to face German Bundesliga outfit RB Leipzig within the UEFA Champions League subsequent Tuesday (8pm kick-off), with the final 16 first leg tie been performed at a impartial venue of Puskás Aréna in Budapest, Hungary.
The Merseyside Derby and a return to Premier League motion at Anfield towards Everton follows on Saturday 20 February (5:30pm kick-off) earlier than the Reds head to Sheffield United the next Sunday for his or her ultimate fixture of the month (12:30pm kick-off).
One other house league match, towards Fulham, follows on 6 March (3pm kick-off), forward of the return leg towards Leipzig at Anfield on Wednesday 10 March (8pm kick-off). Additionally throughout March, Liverpool will face Wolverhampton Wanderers (A) and Chelsea (H).
All occasions GMT.
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