When the story comes to be told of the complete 2018-19 season, how vital will this game turn out to be? Liverpool have moved five points clear of Manchester City and, for that reason alone, it has been a profitable 48 hours for Jürgen Klopp’s team. Yet there was no getting away from the fact this was a missed opportunity for the Premier League leaders, with the first tell-tale signs of nerves sweeping Anfield and, most alarmingly for Klopp, perhaps getting into the minds of one or two players.
This is certainly no time to get stage fright, with 14 games still to go, and it was particularly surprising given Sadio Mané, Liverpool’s most dangerous player, had given them the lead after only three minutes. Leicester were tough, obdurate opponents who refused to be cowed and demonstrated a spirit of togetherness that made it perplexing Claude Puel finds his position questioned so frequently, with four defeats from their previous five games.
Liverpool, in turn, seemed to be feeling the pressure in a way that could not be said of them at any other time this season. It was rare, for example, to see Mohamed Salah so ineffective. It was not that Salah played badly, just that he did not get close to his most exhilarating levels. The same applied to the team as a whole and the crowd could not rouse themselves in the way that might have been expected. Overall, it was a strangely subdued night and, though it is important to remember Liverpool extended their advantage at the top, they did not look like a team who want to be regarded as champions-in-waiting. Nor did Manchester City at Newcastle the previous night, which makes it even more intriguing.
Liverpool certainly set off as though they had been given a lift by the result at St James’ Park and there were people still taking their seats when Mané exchanged passes with Andy Robertson to conjure up the opening goal with a clever first touch and precise right-footed finish. Not one player in blue had managed a clean touch of the ball before it ended up in Kasper Schmeichel’s net and, in those early exchanges, Liverpool looked like a team in a hurry, keen to get the job done quickly.
Instead, Leicester began to grow in confidence – encouraged, perhaps, by the clear suspicion Alisson might be in an unexpectedly obliging mood. The Liverpool goalkeeper’s casualness on the ball endangered his team on two occasions when the score was 1-0 and Klopp, never a manager to hide his emotions, was clearly startled by the manner in which his players were making life unnecessarily hard for themselves.
The equaliser was the case in point, with Robertson giving away a needless free-kick to leave his team vulnerable. Klopp’s displeasure was clear on the touchline and, though James Maddison’s delivery was turned away, Leicester had plenty of players forward. Virgil van Dijk, who was marking Harry Maguire, had switched off and lost his man. Ben Chilwell, one of Leicester’s outstanding performers, returned the ball into the area and Maguire had the space and time to stroke his shot beyond Alisson.
Liverpool’s crowd had been calling for a red card earlier in the first half when Mané shaped to run behind the Leicester defence only to be brought down by Maguire. The centre-half escaped with a booking, presumably because Robertson’s through ball was at a slight angle away from goal.
Liverpool also felt aggrieved in the second half after a penalty appeal for Ricardo Pereira’s challenge on Naby Keïta. Pereira had trodden on Keïta’s left boot, just as he was taking aim with his other foot, but it happened so quickly, with so many players in close proximity, the referee, Martin Atkinson, gave Leicester the benefit of the doubt.
Overall, though, the away team fully merited the draw and might even have snatched a win with some of the chances involving Maddison, Demarai Gray and, again, Maguire. The emphasis in the second half was on Liverpool to soothe the crowd’s anxieties. They could not manage it and Puel’s team have already shown this season they can raise their performance against the top sides, beating Chelsea and Manchester City since late-December.
At half-time a team of groundsmen were sent on to remove flecks of snow from the penalty area that Liverpool would be attacking. The other side was left as it was , which was a bit sneaky, but understandable, perhaps, when there was so much at stake.
Not that it made too much difference and, if anything, it was Leicester with the best opportunity of the second half when they broke on the counterattack and Gray decided to shoot instead of rolling the ball into Maddison’s path to leave his teammate a relatively simple finish. Maddison could also reflect on a golden chance inside the first half when he got his header horribly wrong inside the six-yard area.
Liverpool had plenty of the ball but maybe the importance of the occasion restricted their performance – 29 years since their last league title. It ended in frustration and, for Manchester City, a measure of relief.