January 22 – One of the most formidable records in English football came to a sudden and unexpected halt on Thursday night when Liverpool’s 68-match unbeaten home streak in the Premier League ended with a shock 1-0 loss to lowly Burnley, the latest setback of a rapidly fading title defence.
Ashley Barnes scored from the penalty spot in the 83rd minute as Burnley became the first team to win a league game at one of the great fortresses of the English game since April 2017.
Jurgen Klopp’s team, who won the domestic title for the first time in 30 years last season and the Champions League the season before that, have now failed to win in five consecutive league games and are six points behind leaders Manchester United whom they face in a heavyweight FA cup fourth round tie at the weekend.
Burnley began the game just one place above the relegation zone but put a huge dent in Liverpool’s chances of back-to-back titles.
Klopp’s side have a string of defensive injuries at present, with players playing out of position, but it has been scoring goals that has cost them as they failed to score for a fourth straight league game.
“We can’t imagine the title race at the moment,” said Klopp who admitted the result was “a massive punch in the face”.
“When I look back I think how is it possible we lost this game but we did. We have to work hard to do the right things. It is not an easy situation. I have to make clearer what we have to do in the right moments and then we will score goals again.”
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