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2 min: Jones loses an aerial duel with Ampadu 30 yards from his own goal, and suddenly Okafor finds himself in space down the inside-left channel. He drags a weak shot across Alisson and wide right. A lively start by both sides.
1 min: Bradley shields the ball on the right touchline, only to be skittled by Gruev. Szoboszlai swings in the free kick … but it’s not very good. It’s half-cleared by the first man, then Ekitike is caught offside.
A quick blast of the piccolo-fest Marching On Together … then Liverpool get the ball rolling. A fantastic atmosphere.
The teams are out at Elland Road. Leeds United in Revie-inspired all-white, Liverpool in Shankly-inspired all-red. Two inspirational figures who knew one or two things about psychology. Everyone looking immense, everyone looking good. It’s hosing down under the lights in West Yorkshire; quite the scene. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes!
Readers react to the updated Premier League table. “I’ve been fairly relaxed about Liverpool’s form so far. The title memory is still fresh and, being only the second in 35 years, still worth celebrating. And 450m quid is a lot, but it wasn’t my money. But seven places behind Everton? If that doesn’t qualify as a crisis, then I’m not sure what does: – Tim Woods
“Following Villa’s victory earlier, it’s On! The league is back On!*” – Matt Dony
“ *It is far, far from ‘On’ ” – Matt Dony
“Not sure how Liverpool can be favourites given their lack of oomph every other game. But the betting industry cannot be wrong. So lump on!” – Ian Copestake
Daniel Farke’s turn to talk to Sky. “We have to go one more time over the line … we have played a few big names … not just the best teams in the UK but the world … we need always a top performance … we had a good second half against Manchester City … a good game against Chelsea … we need physically to be spot on … fight … aggressiveness … be good on the ball.”
He also reports that Lukas Nmecha is missing with a “hamstring strain … we hope to have him back for the next games.”
Arne Slot speaks to Sky Sports. “It is never an easy decision [to bench Mohamed Salah] because we all know what a great player he is … but it’s also up to me to pick the team I think we need today … that’s why I made this decision … it’s not only us, it’s the team we face … the last game I saw from them they have made it really difficult for [Manchester] City in the second half … changed their playing style a little bit … I saw the same against Chelsea … so we tried to adapt to their strength and hopefully we can hurt them where we think there are possibilities … fresh legs … for the third time this season we play three games in seven days … I don’t think last season we had this once … in this intense league when two of them are away from home, you need fresh legs … Alex [Isak] wasn’t fully recovered … I brought in a few … very good players as well … we are far from where we want to be … we have to accept the situation we are in … [having conceded ten goals in three games] in the last two games we have only conceded one and we were one deflection away from keeping a clean sheet.”
All of the earlier Premier League kick-offs have now finished. John Brewin has all the details in Clockwatch, but here are the classifieds anyway.
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Aston Villa 2-1 Arsenal
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Bournemouth 0-0 Chelsea
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Everton 3-0 Nottingham Forest
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Manchester City 3-0 Sunderland
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Newcastle United 2-1 Burnley
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Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Brentford
All of that means Manchester City cut Arsenal’s lead to just a couple of points, while Everton fly all the way up to fifth. Liverpool can leapfrog their arch rivals with victory this evening. Meanwhile Nottingham Forest’s heavy defeat on the banks of the Mersey gives Leeds the opportunity to overtake them into 16th spot with a win here today. It’s quite the fluid table.
Leeds United make two changes to their starting XI following the win over Chelsea. Noah Okafor and Ilia Gruev replace Ao Tanaka, who drops to the bench, and Lukas Nmecha, who misses out altogether.
Liverpool make four changes after the draw with Sunderland. Both full-backs are replaced: Conor Bradley and Milos Kerkez come in for Joe Gomez and Andrew Robertson. Curtis Jones replaces Alexis MacAllister in the midfield, while Hugo Ekitike steps in for Alexander Isak. All four of the replaced players are on the bench, alongside Mohamed Salah, named as sub for the third game running.
The teams
Leeds United: Perri, Rodon, Bijol, Struijk, Bogle, Stach, Ampadu, Gruev, Gudmundsson, Calvert-Lewin, Okafor.
Subs: Darlow, Piroe, Aaronson, Harrison, Tanaka, Bornauw, Justin, Byram, Gnonto.
Liverpool: Alisson, Bradley, van Dijk, Konate, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Jones, Szoboszlai, Wirtz, Gakpo, Ekitike.
Subs: Mamardashvili, Gomez, Endo, Isak, Mac Allister, Salah, Chiesa, Robertson, Ngumoha.
Referee: Anthony Taylor
VAR: John Brooks
Preamble
Welcome to our coverage of the rerun of the 1965 FA Cup final. Which is how the kids round our way are framing it. Here’s a snapshot of that day, as seen through the eyes of the cheeky chap from the ‘Pool, everybody’s pal, the jolly gap-toothed scouser with a twinkle in his eye and a smile for every honest Englishman.
Liverpool went into that final as favourites, prevailing 2-1 after extra time. They’re the bookies’ favourites to win this evening, too, though you have to wonder whether reputation is trumping present form here. Leeds are coming off the back of a spirit-enhancing 3-1 win over bitter rivals Chelsea, while Liverpool were stultifyingly awful in scraping a draw against Sunderland. And while it’s true that Leeds had lost their previous four matches, and six of the previous seven, Liverpool have tasted defeat in nine of their last 14 games, so good luck confidently picking a winner from that pile of rubble. Oh Daniel. Oh Arne.
Nobody would be surprised if the reigning champions clamber back on the horse this evening, relocate their groove, and give the newly promoted hosts a good shoeing. But then neither would anybody be particularly shocked if Leeds build on their morale-boosing midweek win by staging another rafter-bothering Elland Road energy piece, and become the latest in a long line of teams to thoroughly embarrass Liverpool. So it’s poised deliciously for the neutral … and also promises to be quite the ride, one way or another, for the partial as well. Kick-off is at 5.30pm GMT. It’s on! O-ho!
