The Reds easily go to the FA Cup fifth round, where they will host either Watford or Southampton. In manager Jurgen Klopp’s first game since announcing his departure at the end of the season; Ryan Gravenberch, Virgil van Dijk, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota, and Curtis Jones all scored in the victory.
Prior to kickoff, the Liverpool manager, who made his departure from the team official on Friday, sat in reflective mode while the Kop sang ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.
A rendition of ‘I’m so glad that Jurgen is a Red’ was heard in the opening minute, but the German would have been happy that the attention quickly switched to the on-field action because there was still plenty of football to be played, especially with the struggle going on four fronts.
Virgil van Dijk and Ryan Gravenberch scored goals to launch the first of what will probably be many festivities at Anfield.
The Reds boss also said: “It was very important that we could give them minutes. Trent (Alexander-Arnold) and Dom (Dominik Szoboszlai) were not that long out but Robbo (Andrew Robertson) was out for a long time and each minute they could get is really important and here it helped to share intensity.”
“We played pretty good without them, so it is about how we are playing. We have to make sure we are the one team Chelsea does not want to play against and Arsenal doesn’t want to play against.”
Meanwhile his counterpart and best friend David Wagner said:
“A deserved win for Liverpool, the better side won. My team put a shift in and tried to play out from the back. We scored two wonderful goals and were competitive.
“I said before, ‘let’s attack this competition with freedom’. We were able to get some players closer to the squad and it was a step for us. Now we have to make sure we recover in the Championship.”
Wednesday, January 31, marks Liverpool’s return to Premier League play when Chelsea visits Anfield.
Meanwhile in the Sky Bet Championship, Norwich will play Coventry next on Saturday, February 3.
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