Burnley bring Liverpool's unbeaten home record to an end
Before tonight, Liverpool's last Premier League defeat at Anfield was in April 2017; 68 games and 1,370 days later, their run was ended by an Ashley Barnes penalty.
Liverpool's unbeaten run at home in the Premier League came to an end on Thursday night as Burnley became the first team to take three points from Anfield since Crystal Palace in April 2017. Jürgen Klopp's Reds went 68 games without defeat in the domestic league in L4 - a club record, but he and his players will be more disappointed that they are now six points off the top of the table and without a goal in their last 440 minutes of competitive football.
Origi and Shaqiri start
Klopp surprised with his line-up for tonight's match, leaving top scorer Mohamed Salah to accompany Roberto Firmino on the subs' bench. In attack, Divock Origi and Xherdan Shaqiri lined up alongside Sadio Mané - the last Liverpool player to have found the net, in the 1-1 draw with West Brom last month. Yet the Reds' struggles in front of goal continued. Origi struck the bar at the end of the first half in the home side's best chance but their chances bareky improved when Salah and Firmino were introduced 10 minutes into the second half.
Burnley defended well and took the lead on 82 minutes with Ashley Barnes firing home from the spot after a foul by Alisson. It was Burnley's first victory at Anfield since September 1974 when they won by the same scoreline. The result means Liverpool remain fourth in the table on 34 points - four behind Leicester and City and six behind leaders United.
"Confidence is a small flower"
Afterwards, Burnley manager Sean Dyche said he is sure that Liverpool and Klopp with bounce back, telling BBC 5 Live, "I don't think there is a major wobble, that can happen to the best of teams. Liverpool is a brilliant club with a brilliant coach".
Klopp meanwhile, whose team had six attempts on goal, accepted full responsibility for the result, "It's a situation we don't want to be in but it is one which are in, that's how it is. I've been told we have tried 90 times [in five games] and scored only once - that's not a number you like, but that's the reason why we lost tonight's game. This was a difficult game to lose, but we made it happen and that is my fault, We have to make better decisions - these boys are able to do it but after not scoring for a while, they are not full of confidence. You can see that. Confidence is a small flower and someone has stamped on it and now we have to find a new one and we will".