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A four-game winning run before the World Cup was the perfect tonic for a Liverpool side whose club continues to make headlines off the field, as uncertainty lingers over the future of Fenway Sports Group and John W Henry‘s tenure at the Anfield helm.
Amid all the ownership drama and reports of a possible sale, sporting director Julian Ward – who has only been in the job for just over a year – is understood to be stepping down at the end of the season in a major internal shake-up, and Jurgen Klopp‘s men would do well to bring their supporters some festive cheer on the pitch.
Defeats to Nottingham Forest and Leeds United at the end of October shows that Liverpool have not eliminated all the frailties from their injury-hit and below-par start to the season, but Klopp’s men can proudly boast to have won eight of their last 10 competitive fixtures to surge to sixth place in the Premier League table.
Liverpool’s customary place in the Champions League is still under significant threat, as they lie seven points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur with a game in hand, and vengeance is already on the minds of those who witnessed Real Madrid end the Reds’ hopes of a seventh European Cup crown last term, as the 2021 finalists prepare to meet in the last 16 of the Champions League next year.
Before aiming to serve Los Blancos a cold dish of revenge, Liverpool face Lyon and then AC Milan in the Dubai Super Cup, which sees four teams compete for friendly glory, and a penalty shootout will also take place at the end of each match for an additional point.
Klopp’s side face a Christmas baptism of fire upon their return to competitive action with a visit to Manchester City in the fourth round of the EFL Cup on December 22, and putting a few goals past a hapless Lyon side would set them up well for another unenviable Etihad scrap.
Gabriel Magalhaes, Eddie Nketiah and Fabio Vieira put Arsenal 3-0 up before the half-time whistle blew, and even though Arteta brought on no fewer than nine academy players for the final 20 minutes, the Gunners still looked like the team most likely to score again.
Third-choice Arsenal goalkeeper Karl Hein also stopped four penalties – including a hideous attempt at a Panenka from Rayan Cherki – in the shootout to secure an extra point for the Gunners via a 2-1 success, and Laurent Blanc admitted that the only positive from Thursday’s humiliation was that his side “ran a lot”.
Lyon also conceded three in a 5-3 friendly win over OH Leuven at the start of the month, and following the end of the Dubai Super Cup, Les Gones will tackle Sochaux and Monza on December 17 and 22 respectively before resuming an ailing Ligue 1 campaign away to Brest on December 28.
Liverpool and Lyon have only ever locked horns twice competitively in the 2008-09 Champions League group stage, where Les Gones came from behind to record a late 2-1 win at Anfield before relying on a 90th-minute strike from Lisandro Lopez to rescue a 1-1 draw on home turf.
Liverpool’s wealth of World Cup representatives will play no part in the Dubai Super Cup, as Jordan Henderson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate prepare for battle in the quarter-finals.
Darwin Nunez‘s Uruguay were dumped out in the group stage, and the striker is due to arrive in the Middle East next week, but he will not be available to face Lyon. Meanwhile, Diogo Jota and Arthur remain sidelined with their long-term injuries.
On another negative note, Luis Diaz has suffered a setback in his recovery from a knee injury, but the luckless Naby Keita – whose only appearance this term has come in the Community Shield – is making good progress in his rehabilitation from a thigh issue.
Amid the absence of several first-team stars, the likes of Calvin Ramsay and Fabio Carvalho should be handed starts in a strong first XI before Klopp rings the changes, with 17-year-old Ben Doak among those hoping for priceless minutes.
As for Lyon, Argentina representative Nicolas Tagliafico is still away with the Copa America winners in Qatar, while Karl Toko Ekambi is enjoying an extended break following Cameroon’s group-stage elimination.
Corentin Tolisso – whose World Cup hopes were extinguished due to his perennial injury troubles – was able to complete 62 minutes of the loss to Arsenal, leaving Jerome Boateng (knee) as Lyon’s only absentee for their final Dubai showdown.
Blanc unsurprisingly made a full 11 changes during Thursday’s game and will no doubt adopt a similar approach here, but an experienced starting lineup should still feature the likes of Alexandre Lacazette, Moussa Dembele and Maxence Caqueret.
Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Kelleher; Ramsay, Matip, Gomez, Robertson; Elliott, Thiago, Milner; Salah, Firmino, Carvalho
Lyon possible starting lineup:
Lopes; Gusto, Lukeba, Diomande, Henrique; Aouar, Lepenant, Caqueret; Tete, Lacazette, Dembele
In the week that the Bulls lost their most famous ex-player, FA Cup legend Ronnie Radford – 50 years on from his iconic match-winning goal against Newcastle – it briefly looked like there might be some left-over magic in the air.
For seven minutes, the sixth-tier outfit led after Miles Storey’s goal against the team 81 places above them in the English football pyramid in League One.
But Pompey hit back, with Reeco Hackett quickly levelling before second-half goals from Colby Bishop and substitute Joe Pigott earned the twice FA Cup winners a safe passage to Monday’s second-round draw
Making their first trip to Edgar Street in 38 years, Pompey were given a good first-half workout by the fired-up hosts.
Although home keeper Dale Eve had to keep out Hackett’s left-foot curler bound for the top corner, Pompey had a first real scare when Bishop’s challenge on Hereford’s former million-pound marksman Tyrone Barnett in the visitors’ penalty box went unpunished.
And there was worse to follow for Pompey when Hereford took the lead on 26 minutes.
Sean Raggett played a loose pass inside to Hackett, who was immediately closed down and robbed by Storey – and the former Pompey player raced away down the inside-left channel before keeping his cool to nutmeg on-loan West Bromwich Albion keeper Josh Griffiths.
Fittingly, just two days on from the announcement of the sad passing of Hereford’s legendary number 11, their modern-day number 11 emulated his predecessor.
There had already been a minute’s silence, which cascaded into applause from the whole ground, followed by chants of ‘there’s only one Ronnie Radford’ when the clock showed 11 minutes.
But this goal was destined not to prove so famous.
Ronan Curtis headed down Connor Ogilvie’s far-post cross for Hackett to bring down and fire home coolly from six yards.
On 63 minutes, Portsmouth took the lead when, from Clark Robertson’s in-swinging right-foot corner from the left, Bishop timed his run to get there first and head his 10th goal of the season.
And Pigott wrapped up victory 10 minutes from time when, again from a corner by skipper Robertson, Bishop won the initial header before Pigott reacted sharpest to sidefoot home
Hereford FC boss Josh Gowling told BBC Sport:
“I’m really disappointed because we should have got something out of it, but goals change games – and the quality of the delivery they have changes games.
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“In the first half we were excellent. We were in the ascendancy and they looked nervous.
“We were on top and looked like we could go on and win, but we’ve made one mistake, it has cost us a goal and that’s the difference in levels.
“We’ve given them a leg up and a little lift and you could see their performance raise after that.”
Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley told BBC Sport:
“I was so sad to hear the news about Ronnie Radford. He was such an iconic figure and he had that iconic moment. For a lot of people my age, his famous goal was their first memories of the FA Cup. But what a brilliant night to celebrate his life