Liverpool vs Leeds live: Score and updates from Premier League clash

Liverpool face what is quite a familiar challenge, of how to unlock a team who are defending in numbers.

One difficulty, perhaps, is that, with the notable exception of Ekitike, they don’t have many Premier League goals in their team.

The next highest scorer is Ryan Gravenberch with four, though Szoboszlai has five in all competitions. One was against Leeds.

21 mins: Leeds can’t get the ball out at the minute.

Liverpool have penned them deep in their own half as Robertson swings in a cross.

Ekitike chests it down to control the ball before he’s tackled by Pascal Struijk who boots the ball away.

Ekitike was also slightly offside and the assistant referee raises the flag on the far side of the pitch.

18 mins: Liverpool have looked decent so far but they’ve not created much.

Leeds themselves seem pretty solid with a fluid back three that becomes five when the hosts have the ball.

There’s little space for Liverpool’s forward line to operate in and they haven’t managed to penetrate into the box as of yet.

15 mins: Florian Wirtz dribbles and weaves over on the left wing but can’t find a way into the box.

The ball eventually gets played back to Andy Robertson who darts towards the penalty area only for James Justin to win Leeds a free kick.

A couple of early corners negotiated by Liverpool as life after Aaron Briggs begins.

Leeds were one of the teams to expose their frailties at set-pieces, with Ao Tanaka’s injury-time equaliser at Elland Road coming from a corner.

They have a big side again today, even without Calvert-Lewin.

3 mins: Andy Robertson receives the ball on the left wing. He slips it inside to Hugo Ekitike who evades a tackle and gets the ball to Dominik Szoboszlai.

Leeds regain possession on the edge of their own box and feed the ball quickly forward forcing Ibrahima Konate to work the ball behind for a corner.

Leeds get the ball rolling at Anfield aiming to get something out of this game.

They work down the left side of the pitch but Ryan Gravenberch is on hand to marshall the ball behind for a goal kick.

Daniel Farke explained that Dominic Calvert-Lewin is starting on the bench as a precaution to limit his minutes following a couple of injury-prone years.

Calvert-Lewin is in blistering form though so expect him to feature at some point this evening, especially if Leeds are still in with the chance of taking points back to Elland Road.

Cody Gakpo has scored in Liverpool’s first Premier League game of each of the last two calendar years, netting against Newcastle and Man Utd.

The last Reds player to score in their first league game three years in a row was Ian Rush in 1985, 1986 and 1987.

Having failed to score or assist a goal in any of his first 15 Premier League appearances, Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz has now scored (1) or assisted (1) in his last two.

He last registered a goal involvement in more consecutive league games in November/December last year (a run of six with Bayer Leverkusen).