Liverpool 3–1 Leicester
by James Nalton
at Anfield

LIVERPOOL defeated Leicester to advance to the next round of the EFL Cup, complete with some morale-boosting performances in Red.

The Premier League side have started the season positively and continued this against quality Championship opposition in the swirling wind at Anfield.

Leicester even opened the scoring within three minutes through Kasey McAteer, but goals from Cody Gakpo, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Diogo Jota meant the scoreline eventually reflected the Reds’ performance.

Local academy product Curtis Jones captained the club on the night, playing in an unfamiliar position as an inverted right back, usually occupied by the currently injured Trent Alexander-Arnold.

It was an impressive performance from Jones, and Jurgen Klopp revealed he informed the 22-year-old of both bits of news at the same time.

“I sold the right-back idea with the captaincy, but he was already completely excited when I told him he would play right-back,” said the Liverpool manager.

“The way he executed it was super special, I have to say. Wow. Super smart.

“I needed to find solutions and Curtis was always in my mind as a potential solution there.

“He is really football smart. He enjoys being on the ball and the deeper you are the more often you can get the ball. It was a top performance.”

The goals were all full of quality, from Ryan Gravenberch’s combination with Gakpo for the opener to the neat flick from Jota to make it three.

The standout goal, though, was the rocket of a shot from Szoboszlai to put Liverpool ahead. 

There were also impressive performances from other new faces to the team, the more experienced new signing Wataru Endo and young academy players Jarell Quansah and Ben Doak.

It’s early days but Liverpool have already shown this season that they have an exciting team with some level of strength in depth, and as Szoboszlai’s goal showed, big hitters who can make a difference when needed.