Liverpool made it back-to-back Premier League victories with a 1-3 victory over Leicester City at the Kings Power Stadium.
The Reds responded by going 1-0 down through a Simon Mignolet own goal, to take the points courtesy of goals from Adam Lallana, Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson.
Gerrard’s goal – the first that had not come via a set piece since February 2012 – was particularly satisfying, following the recent speculation surrounding his future.
The Reds have now responded from a run of six games without a win in all competitions to three unbeaten, but they were made to work for it away to the Premier League’s bottom club.
Simon Mignolet has been the subject of much debate in recent weeks, and the Belgian almost gifted Leicester an opener, passing the ball direct to Estaben Cambiasso 25 yards from goal. However, the former Inter Milan man somehow placed his shot towards an empty net wide of the target.
Whilst Mignolet may have escaped on that occasion, his reprieve did not last long. Leicester broke forward two minutes later, and Jamie Vardy – the man who tore Manchester United apart in September – saw his shot cleared off the line from Martin Skrtel. Liverpool failed to clear from the rebound, and the ball ended up in the back of the net off the head of Mignolet, after Leicester striker Ulloa had seen his shot come back off the post.
Thankfully the Reds responded within four minutes. Steven Gerrard’s free kick was headed clear, and the impressive Lucas Leiva launched the ball back into the box. Rickie Lambert forced a poor clearance, and Adam Lallana was on hand to bury a superb first time finish from just inside the box to draw the Reds level.
There was little to choose between the sides up until the 54th minute when Steven Gerrard had his say. Raheem Sterling escaped down the left and delivered a low cross which was only partially cleared by Leicester captain Wes Morgan. Gerrard was on hand to cooly fire home from just inside the penalty box, and his celebration told it’s own story. It was the 34-year-old’s first goal since September, and took him top of the Reds scoring chart with four in all competitions.
The Reds were boosted further when Morgan was shown a straight red card for a tug back on Rickie Lambert when clean through.
Down to ten men, the Foxes looked more dangerous than they had done previously, but found themselves vulnerable to a counter attack.
They were fortunate when referee Lee Mason turned down the Reds claims for a penalty, when Gerrard appeared to be brought down by Kasper Schmeichel.
But it proved to be irrelevant in the end, when Jordan Henderson fired home from close range on 83 minutes, following a deft backheel from Raheem Sterling inside the box, after the 19-year-old had been played in by the superb Gerrard.
It is now back-to-back wins for the Reds, and with Sunderland to come at Anfield on Saturday, the feeling is their season will be well and truly back on track with another three points ahead of next week’s massive Champions League clash with FC Basel at Anfield.
