Liverpool's 3-0 away win at Watford on Saturday had the feel of potential Premier League champions,
but they know they'll have to keep up the pace to dethrone reigning champions Manchester
City.
Jurgen Klopp's side remain unbeaten after the opening 13 league games and have racked
up 33 points in that time.
There has certainly been a major improvement made by the Reds this campaign and it isn't
in attack, as they were equally as emphatic in the final third during the last season.
But Liverpool's new-found resilience in defence is allowing them to grind out victories
and goalkeeper Alisson Becker has been a key difference in the early season success.
Liverpool splashed out £67million to sign Alisson in the summer from Roma and the £120,000-a-week
ace has made quite the impact.
The Brazil international has conceded just five league goals all season and has managed
to solve a problem area in Klopp's side.
He is certainly a world-class goalkeeper that is proving himself at Anfield and looks at
total ease in-between the sticks.
The 26-year-old was mainly quiet in the win over Watford at the weekend, but did what
all elite shot-stoppers do by popping up with one crucial save to help turn the tide of
the game.
Alisson remarkably denied Watford's Roberto Pereyra following his effort in the penalty
area and his contributions are helping turn Liverpool into the real deal.
Alisson Ramses Becker, known as Alisson, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays
as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Liverpool and the Brazil national team.
Alisson began his career at Internacional, where he made over 100 appearances and won
the Campeonato Gaúcho in each of his four seasons at the club.
In 2016, he completed a €7.5 million transfer to Roma where he initially served as understudy
to Wojciech Szczęsny before breaking into the starting line-up.
In July 2018, Alisson signed for Liverpool for a initial fee of €62.5 million, which
could rise to €72 million.
Alisson represented Brazil at various youth levels before making his senior international
debut in 2015 whereafter he represented the nation at the Copa América Centenario in
2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Jurgen Klopp has
confirmed that Joe Gomez should be available for Liverpool's clash with Paris Saint-Germain,
as well as next weekend's Merseyside derby.
Gomez missed Liverpool's 3-0 victory away to Watford on Saturday after sustaining a
minor ankle injury in training and Dejan Lovren came in to replace the 21-year-old alongside
Virgil van Dijk at Vicarage Road.
The Reds are preparing to take on PSG for their crucial Champions League tie in Group
C on Wednesday evening and Klopp will be desperate to field his first-choice centre-back partnership
in the French capital.
Liverpool also host bitter rivals Everton in the Premier League next weekend and Gomez
is expected to be back to match fitness for both games.
Asked about Gomez's injury after the defeat of Watford, Klopp replied: 'In the last
second of yesterday's session, he got a little knock.
'We thought: "Come on, let's bring him and have a look in the morning."
He said it was 80 per cent better, that's good.
So he's no doubt for Wednesday.
'But we had Trent and Dejan at 100 per cent, so we didn't have to make a decision.
'It was clear he could be rested and can recover more, and then he is ready for Wednesday
again.'
Second-half goals from Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Roberto Firmino sealed
the win for ten-man Liverpool – following Jordan Henderson's sending off – and Klopp
praised the manner of his side's display.
'It was a really mature performance.
I am not sure if we had the ball in the past when we've played here, they were much more
open games – especially the 3-3 we played here,' he said.
'We've never controlled games like this in the manner we do it now.
I like that.
I know a few people miss one or two situations which we had in the last season, especially
the second part of the season.
'We had these games last year, we had to play against teams like this.
It is not fair to compare it with other games.
'In the similar games last year, we were not that convincing.
It was not that clear that we controlled the games, but we controlled this game.
They had moments, they had counter-attacks, you cannot avoid that.
'Ben Foster has the ball, long one, and then it's 50-50 or 60-40 for Watford.
It is difficult.
Controlling it, staying in that mood, being positive in a situation, that's new for
us and I like it a lot.
'It was 3-0 and I don't think any Liverpool supporter wants another result or another
performance.
It's just exactly how it had be in our situation because we have to win football games week
in, week out.
'I am really happy about the way we did it.'


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