Leicester City 0-4 Liverpool: Premier League – as it happened

Jurgen Klopp speaks: “I couldn’t be less interested to be honest,” he tells Amazon’s Gaby Logan, when asked how he’s going to cope with people telling him his team has already won the title. “I’ve faced that question a couple of times already tonight.

On the match: “It was a good game,” he says. “The start was good and the finish was really good and in between we had a lot of work to do. There was a lot of good football and a lot of good defending.”

Kasper Schmeichel speaks: “I think it was a bit tough,” he tells Amazon. “We were in the game until the referee had to make himself a hero. Then we lost our composure. They are the best side in the world along with Manchester City. We strive to be like Manchester City and Liverpool but they are a lot further along in their journey.”

He is upset with the decision to award a penalty against Caglar Soyuncu for hand-ball. “Caglar had less than a millisecond to react,” he says. “He is desperate to give it, once he does they are never going to turn it over.” Having seen replays of the penalty decision, I can understand his frustration.

Trent Alexander-Arnold speaks: “We played really good football, especially after all the travelling we’ve had to do.,” he says. “So I suppose in that context it was one of our best performances of the season. To score four goals in a place like this is never easy.”

On his goal: “I don’t get on the scoresheet too often and I thought, yeah, just hit it first time,” he says. “You don’t really think you’re going to be in this position but we’re not going to take anything for granted and just keep going,” he says, when asked about Liverpool’s 13-point lead at the top of the table.

Alongside him, James Milner concurs, saying it’s only halfway through the season and “anything can happen”.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s goal. With so much going on, I might not have done it justice, but Michael from Birmingham has been in touch to put it in a bit of context. It was, he says, “reminiscent of Carlos Alberto in 1970.” Praise indeed and he’s not wrong. The player himself looked extremely pleased with himself after scoring it.

Liverpool’s players are beaming: And so is their manager, as they all go to applaud their exceedingly pleased travelling fans. They were excellent tonight and could scarcely have been more efficient against a team that didn’t give – or simply weren’t let give – a very good account of themselves. Jamie Vardy barely got a sniff of the ball, while James Maddison was anonymous, anything but his usual creative self.

90 min: The game enters its knockings, with Liverpool about to stretch their lead at the top of the table to 13 points. It would take a collapse of comically epic proportions for them to lose the title from here. They are unquestionably the best team in the league and look stone wall certainties to win it for the first time since 1990.

87 min: On Amazon Prime Video, Ally McCoist is on co-comms alongside Jon Champion. He’s asked who his man of the match is and says, without hesitation: “Trent Alexander-Arnold, over and out. End of discussion.” He’s not wrong. The young Liverpool right-back has been sensational tonight, scoring one goal, providing two assists and more or less winning them a penalty with a beautifully delivered corner which caused panic in the Leicester defensive ranks.

84 min: Jamie Vardy shoots into the side-netting from a tight angle after being teed up by a reverse pass from Caglar Soyuncu. The jig is very much up for Leicester, but they continue to plug away as their fans stream out of the stadium to find some Boxing Day succour in the pub.

81 min: Henderson limps to the touchline and is replaced by Adam Lallana. It doesn’t look like too serious an injury for the Liverpool captain, who might have a bruised shin in the morning. While leaving the pitch, he had a few choice words for Ayoze Perez, whose scything tackle was not appreciated.

80 min: Jordan Henderson goes to ground following a challenge from Perez, grimacing with pain and clutching his left calf or shin.

77 min: Leicester substitution: James Maddison, who has had an absolute shocker tonight, makes way for Hamza Choudhury.

73 min: While he won’t get one, Trent Alexander-Arnold deserves another tick in the assist column for his part in the build-up to Liverpool’s second goal. His corner was sublime and Soyuncu was in an awful dither as he tried to clear it.

73 min: Leicester substitution: Ayoze Perez on for Dennis Praet.

69 min: A Salah shot is put out for a corner by Caglar Soyuncu. Before it’s taken, Jurgen Klopp replaces Mo Salah and Naby Keita with Divock Origi and James Milner.

67 min: Alisson dawdles over a kick-out and is castigated by Jamie Vardy and booed by the crowd for time-wasting. On the touchline, Liverpool are preparing to make a double-substitution.

65 min: Leicester have upped the tempo and are giving Liverpool a better run for their money than at any point previously in this game. Their fans are enthused by these signs of life and are roaring their team on.

64 min: Much better from Leicester, for whom Ricardo wriggles in behind the Liverpool defence and tries to pull the ball back from the byline towards Vardy, who’d stolen a yard of space. The pass is intercepted by Virgil van Dijk.

63 min: Maddison overcooks his free-kick and sends the ball wide of the far post, when he almost certainly meant to cross it. Or did he?

62 min: Jamie Vardy finally gets to cut loose, sprinting downfield on a counter-attack from a Liverpool corner that should have been a goal kick. Joe Gomez hacks down Vardy just outside the penalty area, almost in line with the left edge of it. A free-kick for Leicester and a booking for the Liverpool centre-half.

Leicester substitution: Harvey Barnes has just been replaced by Marc Albrighton.

59 min: Incredible stuff from Alexander Arnold, who catches a through ball down the inside left on the half volley, sending another sublime cross into the Leicester penalty area. Schmeichel has his wits about him and comes off his line to get down and cut it out.

57 min: Alexander-Arnold is making hay down the right flank this evening and sends another cross towards the far post. Robertson heads it across the face of goal, where a clearly offside Firmino brings a smart save out of Schmeichel with a header. The flag goes up, so it wouldn’t have counted if he’d scored.

56 min: This time Robertson turns provider, whipping a glorious gross from the buyline towards the near post. The ball’s on a plate for Firmino, who somehow skims it across the face of goal and wide.

54 min: A chipped cross from Alexander-Arnold stands the ballup nicely for Mane, but he’s unable to divert it goalwards.

53 min: Alexander-Arnold swing the corner into the penalty area, where Schmeichel goes to ground under a challenge from Virgil van Dijk.The ball ricochets towards Salah, who sends it high over the bar.

51 min: Trent Alexander-Arnold tries to pick out Andy Robertson with a floated cross towards the far post. Running back towards his own goal, Ricardo leaps to put the ball out for a corner before it meets its target.

50 min: Trent Alexander-Arnold tries to send in a cross from the right flank, but his delivery is blocked and put out for a throw-in by Ben Chilwell.

49 min: James Maddison, who has struggled to make any sort of impact on this game, fails to clear the first defender with a terrible corner-kick.

48 min: Youri Tielemens wins a corner, his long-range effort taking a deflection off the heel of Joe Gomez.

47 min: Kasper Schmeichel leathers the ball out of play for a Liverpool throw-in. I have no idea what he was trying to do there, but there wasn’t a team-mate within 20 yards of that clearance.

46 min: Liverpool immediaterly go on the attack again, with Gini Wijnaldum, on the ball. He attempts to pick out Mo Salah, but his pass is intercepted.

45 min: Half-time can’t come quick enough for Leicester, who desperately need to regroup and will consider themselves lucky to be only one down at the break.

43 min: The quality of Liverpool’s cross-field passing, a play-switching tactic they employ with monotonous regularity but is terribly difficult to defend against, has been outstanding tonight. Henderson, Alexander-Arnold, Robertson and Van Dijk, among others, have all played inch-perfect passes from one side of the pitch to the other at various points in this first half.

41 min: Liverpool win another corner, but nothing comes of it and Leicester clear.

38 min: From being very loud and boisterous before the game and in it’s early stages, the Leicester City supporters have been silenced, for the time being at least. Liverpool have been vastly superior to their team and would be further ahead but for some profligacy in front of goal. They’ve registered seven shots on target, compared to none by the home side. Leicester have been uncharacteristically sloppy and will be getting a rocket from their manager at half-time.

36 min: Replays show that Ben Chilwell was more than a little culpable for that Liverpool goal. With Liverpool players queuing up at the back post, waiting for Alexander-Arnold’s cross, he dropped back and played them all onside.

34 min: Sadio Mane shakes his head after missing a gilt-edged chance to double Liverpool’s lead. With the goal at his mercy, he shoots straight at Schmeichel, who got down, spread his arms and legs, then saved with his chest.

32 min: It was another sublime delivery from Alexander-Arnnold, who sent a raking diagonal ball towards the far post, where both Firmino and Salah were waiting. Firmino got the jump on Ben Chilwell, to head Liverpool into a one-goal lead.

29 min: Liverpool string together a long sequence of passes, over and back from side to side of the pitch a few yards either side of the halfway line. They eventually get the ball forward and win a corner, when the ball goes out of play off Roberto Pereira.

27 min: Dennis Praet pulls the ball back to Vardy in the Liverpool penalty area and the striker’s shot towards goal is blocked. Had he scored it wouldn’t have counted, as Praet was correctly flagged for offside in the build-up.

26 min: Trent Alexander-Arnold floats the ball towards Salah in a good position on the left side of the Leicester penalty area, but Jonny Evans leaps to intercept the pass with his head.

22 min: Something of a lull in what has been an intriguing contest so far. It ends with Mo Salah going to ground in the penalty area under a challenge from Ben Chilwell after getting goalside of the full-back to pick up a cross from midfield. Any debate over whether or not he deserves a penalty or free-kick is rendered redundant by Salah being flagged for offside.

19 min: Liverpool corner. The ball’s sent into the penalty area and Leicester find themselves attacking on the counter. Harvey Barnes finds himself haring towards the Liverpool penalty area with the ball at his feet, but Alisson is quick off his line to put a stop to his gallop., with the help of Joe Gomez

17 min: Dennis Praet sends a decent delivery into the Liverpool penalty area, where Andy Robertson clears.

15 min: Another defensive error from Leicester gifts possession to Jordan Henderson on the outskirts of the Leicester penalty area. He advances towards goal and unleashes a shot. Wilfred Ndidi half-blocks and sends the ball looping ominously in the direction of his own goal. With Schmeichel beaten, it drops just wide of the upright. But for Ndidi\’s intervention, I suspect that would have gone in.

14 min: Salah plays the ball into the Leicester penalty area, trying to pick out Roberto Firmino. Jonny Evans sticks out a leg to make an important interception.

11 min: Leicester win a corner, when Andy Robertson puts a Maddison cross towards Vardy out of play. They take it and Liverpool attack on the counter. Sadio Mane plays a long pass towards Salah, who is through on goal in a one-on-one with Schmeichel.

A heavy touch from the Egyptian takes him away from goal and he finds himself attempting to shoot from a ridiculously narrow angle. He hits the side-netting, when he should have crossed for Mane and Firmino, who were up in support.

9 min: After a very shaky start, Leicester finally appear to be settling into their stride. They get forward courtesy of good work from Wilfred Ndidi and Tielemans, who try to play Vardy in behind the Liverpool defence. Alexander-Arnold is back to cover.

8 min: James Maddison wins a free-kick halfway inside their own half when James Maddison is felled by a kick on the ankle from Trent Alexander-Arnold.

8 min: Andy Robertson tries to drill a cross into the Leicester penalty area from the inside left channel, but his delivery is blocked.

7 min: Harvey Barnes is flagged for offside while chasing a pass from Youri Tielemans down the right flank.

5 min: Kasper Schmeichel is quick off his line to collect a Sadio Mane through-ball which Salah was chasing. It’s been a very strong start by Liverpool.

4 min: That was a poor miss from Mane, who perhaps wasn’t expecting the ball to come his way. He’s shinned it wide, when you’d have put the farm on him to open the scoring from inside the six-yard box.

2 min: Sadio Mane misses an excellent opportunity to put Liverpool ahead, getting in behind Jonny Evans to get on the end of a cross from the right from Mo Salah, the flight of which the defender misjudged. From a couple of yards out, he fails to make clean contact with the ball and somehow contrives to put it high and wide.

1 min: Trent Alexander-Arnold tries his luck with an early shot from outside the penalty area, forcing Kasper Schmeichel to make an early save.

Out they go ... Kasper Schmeichel and Jordan Henderson lead their respective teams out on to the pitch, where a bugler is playing the Post Horn Gallop to herald their arrival.

Not long now: The King Power Stadium is briefly shrouded in darkness, but it’s not because somebody forgot to put 50p in the meter, but merely a precursor to a pre-match light show. Kick-off is less than 10 minutes away.

Brendan Rodgers speaks: “He’s right up there,” Leicester’s manager says, when asked where Jamie Vardy ranks among the players he’s managed. “He’s a brilliant player for us, he sets the tone for everything. He’s a real talisman, and a great striker, but for us it’s all about the team.”

On Leicester’s chances of reeling in Liverpool: “There’s 10 points in it and that seems a lot but over a period of games it’s not a huge amount,” he says. “But we need a performance tonight, to forget about the title race and just perform well.”

Jurgen Klopp speaks. “I don’t have to think about things like this, because I am the one who has to prepare after this for [all our next games],” the Liverpool manager tells Amazon Prime Video, upon being asked if victory tonight would take Liverpool a significant step closer to winning the title. “You can win all those games but you can also lose them. I have never understood this talk [about winning the league] when we are less than halfway through the season. You can ask, but I can’t really answer because I don’t want to think about these things.”

Those line-ups: Leicester City make one change from the team that lost against Manchester City last weekend, with Ayoze Perez making way for Dennis Praet.

In the only change from the Liverpool team that started the World Club Cup final in Qatar, Gini Wijnaldum has recovered from his hamstring injury and starts in place of the injured Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Early team news

With the possible exception of Harvey Barnes, who was due to undergo a fitness test today, Brendan Rodgers has a full Leicester squad to choose from, but his opposite number is not so lucky.

Jurgen Klopp must make do without Fabinho, who remains sidelined with the ankle ligament injury he suffered against Napoli and is a big loss in midfield. He is joined on the sidelines by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren, while Gini Wijnaldum is a slight doubt but expected to feature in some capacity after recovering from a hamstring injury.

When last they met ...

A late, late James Milner winner from the penalty spot deep in added time earned Liverpool the points when these sides met at Anfield in early October.

Sadio Mane had given Liverpool a first half lead, only for James Maddison to equalise with 10 minutes remaining. With four minutes of added time behind them, a Marc Albrighton foul on Mane resulted in a penalty for Liverpool, which Milner dispatched with a minimum of fuss.