Leicester vs Liverpool LIVE: Premier League result, final score and reaction tonight

Liverpool make five changes from their last Premier League outing - last weekend’s 2-2 draw at Tottenham. It includes an overhaul of their midfield three, with Fabinho returning to join Jordan Henderson and the in-form Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Kostas Tsimikas starts in place of the suspended Andy Robertson, but the biggest change of all sees Virgil van Dijk return to the centre of defence. Of Liverpool’s starting eleven, four played a part in the League Cup win over Leicester: Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tsimikas and Jota.

Leicester: Schmeichel; Castagne, Amartey, Ndidi, Thomas; Dewsbury-Hall, Soumare, Choudhury, Maddison; Iheanacho, Vardy

Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Fabinho, Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Salah, Jota, Mane

LEI subs: Ward, Daley-Campbell, Nelson, Vestergaard, Albrighton, McAteer, Tielemans, Lookman, Pérez

LIV subs: Kelleher, Konate, Milner, Keita, Firmino, Gomez, Jones, Beck, Williams

Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp has reiterated his criticism of the festive scheduling as the Liverpool manager voiced his support for the reintroduction of five substitutes per game to protect player welfare.

Klopp’s Chelsea counterpart Thomas Tuchel has suggested that one way of alleviating the workload on some players would be to go back to allowing two additional changes per match.

It is a rule which came into force at the height of the coronavirus pandemic last year before the league reverted to the traditional three substitutes this term, with 14 clubs needing to vote in favour of a permanent rule change.

While Klopp is in favour of moving back to five substitutes he doubts it would get rubber-stamped by the Premier League as some clubs are resistant to the idea, believing it benefits bigger teams.

“The problem is this intensity for a top-class footballer in England is definitely at the edge,” Klopp said. “A top-class player in England plays 38 games in the Premier League, plus two cup competitions. They have international games with their national teams and Champions League games. The further you go, the more games it is.”

The Foxes still have a big injury list to contend with, including James Justin, Wes Fofana, Patson Daka, Jonny Evans and now Ricardo Pereira, who was injured in the League Cup loss against the Reds. Ryan Bertrand also pulled up in the warm-up at the weekend so must be considered a doubt, as is Caglar Soyuncu. Jamie Vardy and Wilfred Ndidi should play after being unused subs against Man City.

Liverpool’s Boxing Day match against Leeds was called off so they have no new injury worries. Nat Phillips, Adrian and Harvey Elliott are their long-term absences, while Divock Origi still appears to be sidelined. Thiago has only just returned to training after Covid and might still miss out here, but Fabinho, Virgil van Dijk and Curtis Jones are all available after earlier negative tests and subsequent returns. Andrew Robertson is suspended so Kostas Tsimikas will play left-back.

Brendan Rodgers has claimed it is ridiculous that Leicester will return to action little more than 48 hours after their extraordinary Boxing Day defeat at Manchester City

Rodgers’ injury-hit Foxes host second-placed Liverpool in the Premier League on Tuesday, just two days after a breathless 6-3 loss to the leaders at the Etihad Stadium.

It is a daunting assignment and Rodgers, echoing the concerns of a number of top-flight managers over the Christmas programme, says the close proximity of the two games is wrong.

“It’s a ridiculous schedule, we all know that,” said the Leicester boss. “Players aren’t fully recovered for 72 hours after a game, so for us to be playing on a Tuesday against Liverpool is ridiculous.

“It’s a very quick turnaround. To play Man City and Liverpool in quick succession over this period is a big challenge, especially with the squads that they have.”

More here:

Good evening and welcome to live coverage of the final Premier League fixture of the day as Leicester City and Liverpool meet for the second time in the space of six days.

This time, the Foxes play hosts in the Premier League to the team which knocked them out of the League Cup before Christmas. On that occasion a below-strength Reds side came from two goals down to draw 3-3 and progress to the semi-finals on penalties.

Since then, Leicester suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of league leaders Manchester City, while Liverpool’s own Boxing Day plans were curtailed as their game against Leeds was postponed. A present across the festive period for Jurgen Klopp’s team came in the shape of Virgil van Dijk, Thiago and Fabinho all recovering from positive Covid tests, too.

Victory for the Reds will leave them second, three points off the leaders, while Leicester will be hoping to move up a place or two in mid-table with a home win of their own. They’ve won just one of the last four in the league though, and one in six in all competitions, while the visitors have won nine of their last 10 and drawn the other.

First-half goals from Odsonne Edouard, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jeffrey Schlupp helped Crystal Palace secure a 3-0 win over Norwich City despite the continued absence of boss Patrick Vieira.

Eagles manager Vieira tested positive for Covid-19 last week and was one of several missing for the hosts, including Conor Gallagher and Wilfried Zaha but they were still too strong for the Canaries.

It was another painful defeat for the visitors, a fifth in a row, and means Dean Smith’s side end the year at the bottom of the Premier League with the signs suggesting that is where they will remain.

Full report:

West Ham United returned to winning ways after coming from behind to secure a dominant 4-1 victory over a depleted Watford at Vicarage Road.

David Moyes’ side clinched their first league away victory since October 31 and ended a five-match winless run in all competitions. Despite having only one full training session in two weeks, Claudio Ranieri’s men started on the front foot, with Emmanuel Dennis giving the home side the lead in only the fourth minute.

However, West Ham’s match fitness and sharpness was evident as they grew into the game, hitting an equaliser in the 27th minute through Tomas Soucek. Two minutes later the visitors had the lead, with Said Benrahma’s effort taking a deflection off Adam Masina and landing in the back of the net.

Mark Noble scored his first Premier League goal since January 2020 when he sent Hornets goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann the wrong way from the penalty spot for the Hammers’ third in the second half. In added time substitute Nikola Vlasic scored his first club goal for West Ham’s fourth.

Full report:

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte, speaking to Amazon Video: “I think we are disappointed because this type of situation you need to exploit much better than we did. It’s ok, it’s a draw. The players and I need to be disappointed because it was a big opportunity to win the game against a strong team. If you are not on the same intensity at Southampton you risk losing the game.

“I leave the decisions of the referee to the VAR. I don’t go into these situations. It’s not easy to play after 44 hours and for sure we felt a bit of fatigue. Maybe our decision-making was not right but at the end of the game we could have still won. We are disappointed.

“My demanding is very high because I’m used to being competitive and winning. For me there is a big disappoint when we don’t win but I understand the situation. We will work a lot because it won’t be easy to fight for something this season. We need to improve a lot.”

Harry Winks, speaking to Amazon Prime: “It feels like a defeat. We’re not happy. To play against 10 men for the majority of the game and not come away with a win is very disappointing.

“We said at half time we need to move it from side to side as quickly as possible and tire them out. I think we rushed it at times and tried to score too early and too quickly in the build up. It’s something we need to look at and work on because that’s two games where we have played against 10 and we need to learn to be more patient with the ball.”