Returning from the international break to get back to their title race, Liverpool faced up against former manager Roy Hodgson in charge of relegation stragglers Watford.
Jürgen Klopp made six changes to the side that progressed past Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup before the break, replacing all of the midfield while also bringing back Joël Matip and Andy Robertson in defence and Mohamed Salah in attack. Liverpool set up in their usual 4-3-3 formation.
Hodgson is Watford’s third manager of the season, with Liverpool thrashing the Hornets in predecessor Claudio Ranieri’s first game in charge last time these sides faced off. There was just one change from the team that beat Southampton, with Emmanuel Dennis replaced by Ismaïla Sarr. Watford lined up in a 4-3-3 shape too.
The match was the standard attack-versus-defence match-up that isn’t exactly an unusual experience for Liverpool at this point. Watford would sit back very deep in a 4-5-1 shape, keeping compact to make it hard for Liverpool to break them down.
One way Liverpool sought to work the ball into attack was by having Thiago Alcântara drop in next to Jordan Henderson. João Pedro would generally hover around Henderson, so having Thiago drop in next to him gave the defenders an easy pass into midfield. To counteract getting doubled up on in this area, Sarr would move up to meet Thiago, but this would in turn create space out wide for Andy Robertson to use.
For the most part getting Thiago on the ball was an aim in itself though, as he repeatedly picked out lovely passes into attack.
Liverpool’s other method of breaking down Watford was moving the ball from side to side, playing down one flank to draw Watford over to that wing before switching out to the other. They were a little slow in passing the ball though, while Watford’s midfield five gave them good width to stop them getting stretched.
Nevertheless, this was how Liverpool took the lead. They played down the left then switched the ball out to Joe Gomez on the right, who had space to pick out a cross. Diogo Jota ghosted in between Kiko Femenia and Christian Kabasele, with the full-back not getting across quickly enough to get tight to him, then seemingly giving up as Ben Foster came out to meet the cross, only for Jota to get his head to it first.
Watford had clearly been looking to just hold off Liverpool for as long as possible, but managed only 20 minutes. After going behind they continued to sit back and defend, which meant they had little chance of getting back into the game.
They would attempt to hit Liverpool on the counter, but they made no changes to give themselves a better chance of a comeback, allowing Liverpool to maintain total control over the match.
The win saw Liverpool move into top spot, albeit only for a few hours.
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