Liverpool 4, Ipswich 1 - Match Recap: An Easy Win at Anfield
Liverpool earn another victory against Ipswich Town and maintain their six-point lead over Arsenal.
Liverpool 4 - 1 Ipswich Town
Liverpool: Szoboszlai 11’, Salah 35’, Gakpo 44’, 66’
Ipswich Town: Greaves 90’
Pre-Match
It’s Cody Gakpo leading the line today with Darwin Núñez on the bench. The Reds welcome Ipswich Town to Anfield as they look to extend their six-point lead over Arsenal and Nottingham Forest atop of the Premier League table.
First Half
Looks like a lovely day in Liverpool as the game kicks off. As expected, it’s Liverpool with the majority of the possession at the beginning of the game, as Ipswich are content to sit back and defend.
After only 10 minutes, their aggressive attacks pay off. Ibrahima Konaté sends a lovely pass onto Dominik Szoboszlai, who controls the ball with his right foot outside of the 18-yard box. Szoboszlai rushes forward and switches to his left foot before sending it in low and accurate into the back of the net.
Mohamed Salah tries his luck moments later, but only manages to shimmy himself into a dead end.
Alisson clears the ball adeptly when it wanders in too close for comfort after an Ipswich corner. Alexis Mac Allister tries his luck from distance, but the shot goes wide.
As Liverpool was gaining momentum to grab that second, unfortunately Ipswich player Ken Burns goes down with what looks like a painful injury. The game is halted for several minutes as he is taken care of and removed from the pitch.
The game resumes, and it’s not long until Salah bags his customary goal of the game. Gakpo sends in a cross to Salah at the far post. The angle is a bit narrow, but Salah still made easy work of getting it into the goal for another Liverpool goal before the break.
Ryan Gravenberch, who’s been having quite the game already, sets up Liverpool’s third goal by perfectly picking out Szoboszlai in the center of the box. Szoboszlai’s shot is blocked by the goalkeeper, but the rebound goes right to Gakpo, who pings it in.
After the injury to Burns, there is seven minutes of injury time added to the first half, which can only be an advantage to the ravaging Reds.
Luis Díaz nearly gets in on the scoring action. Trent Alexander-Arnold crosses it in beautifully, but Díaz can’t stretch far enough to get his head on it. Szoboszlai then tries a hit to the top far corner, but it’s wide, and that ends the first half.
Second Half
No changes from Arne Slot in the second half. The teams come back out with the Reds now playing to the Kop end.
Ipswich earn a corner and get their first shot on goal courtesy of Hutchinson, who makes some work for Alisson. The Brazilian is up to the challenge, and the home team continue back up the pitch where they stayed, patiently building up play to try and grab another goal.
A pretty bit of play culminates in a nutmeg and a cross right in front of the box from Alexander-Arnold. However, none of his teammates could get on the end of it to make it stick.
The Scouser wasn’t done though, and moments later he tries another gorgeous ball into the box. This time it’s picked up by Gakpo, who slides it in. The goal barely survives the VAR check, but it’s deemed good, and so Liverpool are up by four.
As the game resets, Darwin Núñez, Wataru Endō, and Harvey Elliott come on for Gakpo, Gravenberch, and Szoboszlai.
Alexander-Arnold smashes one into the crossbar and looks supremely frustrated by the near-miss.
For his efforts, Endō gets a knee to the face that clearly knocked him back, but he gets up and continues eventually. Enciso only gets a yellow for the terrible challenge, but a red wouldn’t have been surprising. That’s two Ipswich players in quick succession who got yellows for bad challenge on the Japanese captain.
Slots brings on Jayden Danns for Mac Allister for the final handful of minutes.
Ipswich get one back with a corner in the 89th minute. Jacob Greaves scores a header to earn a consolation goal rob Alisson of his clean sheet.
Final Thoughts
In the end, despite the blip in the last minutes, it was an easy win for the Reds, who maintain their six-point lead in the league.
Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
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