Gary Lineker has admitted he’s a huge fan of one Liverpool player following yesterday’s victory at Craven Cottage.
Jurgen Klopp’s side bounced back with a 3-1 win at Fulham following a difficult week.
Liverpool exited the Europa League on Thursday despite a 1-0 win in Atalanta and suffered a surprise defeat to Crystal Palace just days before.
It felt vital that Klopp’s side picked up three points in a tricky fixture at Fulham yesterday, particularly after Arsenal’s victory at Wolves.
Goals from Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ryan Gravenberch and Diogo Jota got the job done in west London.
Despite a Timothy Castagne leveller just before halftime, Liverpool were good value for the three points and moved level with league leaders Arsenal.
Alexander-Arnold scored the pick of the goals at Fulham after sending a free-kick into the top corner to beat Bernd Leno.
Gravenberch made up for a disappointing first-half performance with his own effort from range to restore Liverpool’s lead eight minutes into the second half.
And one Liverpool star certainly caught Gary Lineker’s eye during the victory at Fulham.
Lineker lauds Trent Alexander-Arnold after Liverpool beat Fulham
Speaking on The Rest Is Football, Lineker was quick to highlight Alexander-Arnold’s free-kick.
He said: “Did you see the Trent Alexander-Arnold free kick? Gorgeous wasn’t it?”
Alan Shearer responded: “Wasn’t it brilliant?”
“Something else,” Micah Richards added.
Lineker was then quizzed on the ‘conundrum’ of the Liverpool star’s role in the England squad ahead of the Euros.
“I’m sure he will [get in the England squad]. He’s got something different in certain game. Everyone knows I’m a huge fan of Trent, I love watching him play,” Lineker added. “As a striker, you’d love to play with him. His crossing of the ball is as good as anyone. His passing is as good as anyone’s in the English game.
“He’s also quite versatile as he can play right-back, I don’t think that’s actually his most natural position. I think he’s more of a midfield player as he was as a kid. I think it was only when he got in the first-team he started playing as a right-back and he’s pretty damn good at it. He was seen as the best in the world for a long time.
“He has a slight weakness on the defensive side of things. That’s why he could certainly play alongside Declan Rice in some games, maybe give you a different thing in there. If Gareth wants to play inverted full-backs, he could play him in those.
“I think he’d be particularly good against teams that might sit against you a little bit where he can get forward and whip crosses in. Against someone like France, if we say England play France, you’ve got Mbappe on the left-hand side, we’ve got the most natural person that can defend against him in Kyle Walker. But he’s got to be in the squad.”
Trent’s stats vs Fulham
There is no getting away from the fact that Alexander-Arnold’s absence has been felt at Liverpool in recent weeks.
The 25-year-old missed seven Premier League games after picking up a knee injury in February. But his return has come at an ideal time for Klopp.
In what was his first start in the league since his return, the Liverpool defender’s passing was labelled as ‘sublime’ by Gary Neville yesterday.
He also impressed when it comes to the statistics as he picked up a 7.7 match rating from Sofascore.
Alexander-Arnold completed 57 of his 73 passes on the day while also making one key pass.
While the defensive side of his game is often scrutinised, he did his job on that front too as he made one tackle and one interception.
The Englishman wasn’t dribbled past once in the game and won two of three ground duels.
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