Burnley vs Liverpool: Player ratings and analysis as goal machine Fabinho keeps Man City on their toes

Burnley 0-1 Liverpool (Fabinho 40′)

Fabinho scored his fifth goal in the last seven games as Liverpool maintained their dance with Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table, pulling to within nine points of Pep Guardiola’s side.

Jurgen Klopp’s men still have a game in hand and a visit to the Etihad to come – adding at least a small degree of tension to the title race.

And they had to show plenty of mental strength to escape with a victory against a struggling Burnley side fighting for their lives and wasting a host of chances.

It took until the 40th minute of a game played in appalling conditions for Liverpool to make their quality count although their relegation-threatened hosts had been presented with chances before Fabinho struck.

The best came from a 22nd minute counter-attack, sparked by Wout Weghorst’s clumsy challenge on Mo Salah in the Burnley area – one which was later looked at by the VAR who ruled out a Liverpool penalty.

But Burnley broke upfield, with Ashley Westwood finding Jay Rodriguez who played Weghorst clean through, only for the Dutchman’s poor effort to chip Alisson to be cleared by Trent Alexander-Arnold.

It was one of a number of occasions Alisson was placed under pressure by Burnley’s accurate long ball game.

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But at the other end of the field, Nick Pope was also busy, and finally beaten five minutes before the break.

Alexander-Arnold’s corner was held on by Sadio Mane and after Fabinho’s first effort was blocked by Pope, the midfielder netted the rebound himself.

Despite their recent woes, and a run of 10 league games without a win, Burnley at least gave a good account of themselves.

Alisson saved an early Josh Brownhill effort with a diving two-handed stop and, later, Connor Roberts’ well-judged ball played Weghorst through only for the striker to hit a first-time effort wide.

Liverpool, inevitably, carved out more than their fair share of decent chances with Naby Keita’s 20-yard shot being well saved by Pope after 21 minutes.

And an Alexander-Arnold free-kick was met on the volley by Mane, starting his first game in six weeks after being away on international duty, although the Senegal striker could only steer it straight at Pope.

Burnley showed no sign of capitulating despite falling behind and Ben Mee headed a Maxwel Cornet corner wide room after the restart.

Weghorst, in one of his last actions before limping off injured, also connected with a 20-yard shot that presented Alisson with a routine catch.

Liverpool looked well in control, without really testing Pope in the Burnley goal, although Mee almost turned the ball into his own net after 80 minutes in attempting to deal with an Alexander-Arnold cross.

Player ratings

Burnley

• Pope 7
• Roberts 7
• Tarkowski 7
• Mee 7
• Pieters 6
• Lennon 5
• Westwood 6
• Brownhill 7
• Cornet 6
• Rodriguez 5
• Weghorst 5

Subs

• McNeil 5
• Barnes 5

Liverpool

• Alisson 8
• Alexander-Arnold 7
• Matip 6
• Van Dijk 9
• Robertson 7
• Henderson 6
• Fabinho 8
• Keita 6
• Salah 7
• Firmino 7
• Mane 7

Subs

• Thiago 7
• Milner 5
• Jota 6

from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/Efcl8tC