Leicester City responded to a shorthanded smackdown from Man City in gritty fashion with a determined 1-0 win over Liverpool at an electric King Power Stadium on Tuesday.
Ademola Lookman scored the lone goal off a Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall feed in the second half after Kasper Schmeichel saved a Mohamed Salah penalty in the first to boost the Foxes to just their second win in seven matches across all competitions.
[ MORE: Klopp, Van Dijk furious with performance in loss ]
Leicester pulls into ninth place with 25 points, three back of seventh-place Man United and 10 behind fourth-place Arsenal.
Liverpool, meanwhile, is shut out for the first time this season, allowing Man City to keep its six-point cushions over the Reds and Chelsea.
WATCH LEICESTER CITY vs LIVERPOOL FULL MATCH REPLAY STREAM - LINK
Leicester City vs Liverpool final score, stats
Leicester City 1-0 Liverpool
Scorers: Lookman 59'
Shots: Leicester 6-19 Liverpool
Shots on goal: Leicester 1-4 Liverpool
Possession: Leicester City 37-63 Liverpool
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Three things we learned from Leicester City vs Liverpool
1. No excuses, really, for Liverpool: The fixture list was kind to Liverpool compared to its opponents and even Jurgen Klopp’s injury complaints don’t measure up to what Leicester had to handle on Tuesday. This had big win written all over it but from Mohamed Salah’s penalty miss to Sadio Mane’s wasted big chance, the Reds did oh-so-little well in the final third to the extent that two of their best chances were Jordan Henderson bombs from distance. To give up a goal is something Klopp won’t even mind in the great scheme of things, because what’s one point compared to nothing (besides, you know, a point). As the game was screaming for Roberto Firmino, the Brazilian entered and couldn’t do a ton. This result will read like an understandable hiccup at the end of the season, but the details will reveal that it had to be a win. It was the opposite.
2. Rodgers “no excuses” act rewarded by players a.k.a. Boss level bossing from Brendan: Under fire in some quarters, Brendan Rodgers crawled out of the chaos that was Leicester’s 6-3 loss to Man City and ran off a litany of reasons his Foxes struggled against the champs but not one of them was pointed at the players. He followed that up by saying there would be “no violins” despite the continued obstacles and short turnaround before Liverpool, and his men backed him up. Even if things fell apart in the second half, there’d be reason to be proud. Rodgers has his flaws, but he pushed the right buttons for a culture leading up to this one.
3. Schmeichel steps up, Alisson slips: Two of the Premier League’s best goalkeepers had questions asked of them on Tuesday, and only one answered them. Kasper Schmeichel made several big stops including a Mohamed Salah penalty while Alisson Becker’s very first concern of the game -- almost literally, he had 11 touches at the hour mark -- beat him to the near post with Virgil van Dijk trying to take away the far post. Schmeichel and his backs were poor against Man City. That was not the case at the King Power Stadium.
Man of the Match: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
His name was sung to the tune of “Wonderwall” at the KP on Tuesday and maybe, in fact, he is the one who saved them. Dewsbury-Hall assisted Lookman’s goal and had three interceptions, a tackle, and a clearance operating in the center of the park with Boubakary Soumare and Hamza Choudhury (and later Youri Tielemans). The lineup choice allowed Rodgers to put Wilfred Ndidi at center back to deal more directly with Liverpool’s lethal front three. Even if Ndid conceded a penalty to Salah, it all came clean in the wash.
Mohamed Salah can gaffe, too
Mo Salah is a dynamite player and the frontrunner for both the Premier League Golden Boot and Player of the Season.
All that didn’t mean much Tuesday when the Egyptian won a penalty, saw it saved by Kasper Schmeichel, and nodded the rebounded off the cross bar.
Woof.
Kasper Schmeichel saves Salah's penalty! Then Salah's header goes off the crossbar! What a sequence!
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) December 28, 2021
📺: NBCSN #LEILIV #MyPLMorning pic.twitter.com/CzeuF6tUra
Ex-Everton winger shocks his former Merseyside rivals
Ademola Lookman’s time at Everton wasn’t much to write home about but the 24-year-old has enjoyed his post-Goodison match-ups with Liverpool.
Lookman assisted Fulham’s only goal in a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage last season then went 83 minutes when the Cottagers shocked Liverpool in Week 27.
Given the chance off the bench Tuesday, Lookman snapped a near-post effort past Alisson to set the stage for a thrilling final half-hour against the Reds.
Lookman slips it by Allison at his near post and gives Leicester the lead!
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) December 28, 2021
📺: NBCSN#LEILIV #MyPLMorning pic.twitter.com/F2tpUzfOsS