A selection of Liverpool Football Club-related stories and titbits you may have missed over the past seven days…
Liverpool’s 4-0 win at AFC Bournemouth on Sunday has set a new English football record for consecutive emphatic away wins in the top-flight. The result, which follows victories at Brighton & Hove Albion (5-1), Stoke City (3-0) and West Ham United (4-1), was the first time a side from the top division has won four consecutive league matches on the road by a margin of at least three goals.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who was many people’s Man of the Match, has revealed his best form is still to come. “I feel like I’m settled in now,” remarked the summer recruit from Arsenal to Liverpoolfc.com. “And I’m learning the ropes and my roles and responsibilities. That’s always the thing that’s hard to adapt to. Once you get comfortable with that, you can start to relax more. I’ve been doing better and it has been coming, but there’s definitely more to come from me. And I’ll be doing everything I can to bring that out.”
Another to shine against the Cherries, Dejan Lovren, was pleased with the way the team responded after disappointing home draws against Everton and West Bromwich Albion. The centre-back, who scored Liverpool’s second goal, remarked to the official website: “It’s always great to score a goal but the most important thing is that we showed our quality. After two draws, we didn’t go down, we stayed like before. We were concentrated from the beginning, disciplined from the first second and it was a deserved win. It was really enjoyable from the first until the 93rd minute.”
Reds duo Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah have made the final three-man shortlist for the CAF African Player of the Year award. The winner will be revealed at a ceremony in Ghana on January 4, 2018 with Borussia Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang the other player in the running.
Speaking of Salah and awards, the former Roma man, who netted seven goals in just four outings during the month, has scooped the Premier League’s Player of the Month award for November.
Mané meanwhile is in the running for UEFA’s Goal of the Champions League group stage award. The Senegal international’s acrobatic volley against Spartak Moscow earlier this month is up against goals by Cenk Tosun, Gareth Bale, Antoine Griezmann, Edin Dzeko and Stephan El Shaarawy for the accolade. You can vote now via UEFA’s website.
In a further sign of the impact made by Salah since his arrival, Liverpool’s No.11 is the club’s top selling shirt name/number of the season so far. The Egyptian forward is followed by Mane, with Philippe Coutinho third, Roberto Firmino fourth and Adam Lallana fifth. During the Christmas period you can get £5 off the usual £15 price of personalising a replica Reds shirt when purchased from the club’s official online shop, or in store.
Liverpool U23s slipped to a disappointing 3-1 defeat to ten-man Swansea City in their Premier League 2 clash at the Kirkby Academy on Friday. The visitors were 2-0 up at the interval and increased it further 30 seconds after the restart, before Cameron Brannagan provided a consolation from the spot. LFC U23s: Grabara, Virtue, Johnston (Juanma, 62′), Jones, Whelan, Brannagan, Wilson, Kane, Brewster, Ejaria, Adekanye (Alves, 72′).
U23s captain Corey Whelan has signed a new contract with the club. The defender, who celebrated his 20th birthday last weekend, penned fresh terms with the Merseysiders to extend an association that began when he joined the Academy as an U10 player.
Academy striker Brooks Lennon has completed a permanent move to Real Salt Lake on a free transfer. The 20-year-old USA youth international spent the 2017 Major League Soccer season on loan at his former club and, with his contract due to expire next summer, an agreement has been reached for him to remain stateside.
Liverpool U18s are through to the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup via a thumping 5-1 win at Hartlepool United last Wednesday. Liam Millar netted a hat-trick, to take his tally for the season to 16, while Glen McAuley and Curtis Jones were also on the mark. Steven Gerard’s side will host Arsenal in the next round with the tie needing to be played before January 20, 2018. LFC U18s: Jaros, Larouci, Boyes (Sharif, 60′), R Williams, Glennon, Clayton, Tagseth, Dixon-Bonner, McAuley (Longstaff, 65′), Jones, Millar (Simmonds, 75′).
Liverpool Ladies exited the Continental Tyres Cup on Sunday afternoon after a 5-1 quarter-final defeat away at a clinical Chelsea. A hat-trick from England star Fran Kirby ultimately did the damage to Scott Rogers’ side. Casey Stoney was the player on target for the female Reds, who also hit the woodwork a couple of times and had a series of goal-bound efforts blocked or cleared off the line. LFC Ladies: Chamberlain, Harris, Greenwood, Stoney, Bonner, Ingle, Hodson (Clarke, 71′), Coombs, Charles (Harding, 4′), Weir, Longhurst.
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