Match Reports
Leicester 1-4 Liverpool Liverpool cruised to a comfortable away win against bottom club Leicester, in their last ever league visit to Filbert street. A rampant first half diaplay by Liverpool put them in total command and virtually ended the match as a contest. Robbie Fowler and Phil Thompson's much publicized argument seems to be firmly over as the stand-in boss chose Fowler to start the game alongside Heskey. And Fowler it was who opened the scoring after just 5 minutes. Gary McAllister's corner fell to Riise, whose shot was parried by Ian Walker straight into the path of Fowler and from close range, the vice captain made no mistake. Liverpool looked in control of the game even from the early stages, and a Leicester side running low on confidence soon found themselves 2-0 down. After a Danny Murphy chance had been deflected over the bar, Gary McAllister swung in another corner and Sami Hyypia made space for himself to head into the net and double Liverpool's lead after only 10 minutes. Ade Akinbiyi was Leicester's most dangerous player, but the striker had a nightmare time in front of goal with a series of excellent chances falling his way, but all of them badly missed. His first chance saw him go clear of the Liverpool defence, but fire his shot over the bar. Akinbiyi's luck went from bad to worse though, as he blasted a shot high over the bar from only 8 yards out near the end of the half, and his missed opportunities were to prove costly as Robbie Fowler netted a second before the break. Danny Murphy won possesion after a mistake by Marshall, and a run down the left side of the pitch was followed by a cross to Fowler, who made no mistake in slamming the ball home. Early in the second half, Phil Thompson brought off Steve Gerrard with the game seemingly all over and Patrick Berger came on to make his return to Premiership action. Akinbiyi's form was no better than in the opening half, and he saw another effort go high into the stand behind the Liverpool goal, but Dennis Wise was able to give Leicester some hope with a goal back on 58 minutes. Jamie Redknapp made his first start in a league game for almost a year and a half and lasted until the later stages of the game, when Vladimir Smicer replaced him. Akinbiyi the final clear cut chance of the game for the home side, putting a close range header well over the bar. But the visitors had not finished, and Robbie Fowler had more to contribute to the game. From 15 yards out, the ball fell to Fowler in the area and he volleyed an unstoppable shot into the top corner in the last minute. With the poor finishing of Leicester, Liverpool looked comfortable throughout and collected a valuable 3 points to move up a couple of places and with a shock home defeat by Man United at the hands of Bolton, and Arsenal failing to win at home to Blackburn, Liverpool are closer to their title rivals.
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