Liverpool’s complete dominance in the first half of their match against Burnley this evening was vividly highlighted in one statistic which emerged during the interval at Turf Moor.
The Reds went into half-time with a 1-0 lead courtesy of an early Darwin Nunez goal, but anyone watching would’ve acknowledged that the lead should’ve been considerably larger, such was the authority they had in the opening 45 minutes.
Remarkably, Jurgen Klopp’s side scored just once despite having eight shots on target prior to the interval, and 14 altogether to the Clarets’ two (Sofascore).
In Sky Sports’ live web commentary, Lewis Jones pointed out (18:15): “The only other side with eight shots on target in the first half of a Premier League game this season was Newcastle against Sheffield United in September. That ended 8-0. This arguably should be 8-0 already.”
Even allowing for how extraordinarily clinical Newcastle were at Bramall Lane, Liverpool ought to have been far more than one goal to the good at half-time against Burnley.
Between Mo Salah striking the crossbar, Cody Gakpo spurning an 11th-minute chance and the Dutchman later having a good goal ruled out for a nonexistent foul by Darwin Nunez on Charlie Taylor, Klopp would’ve been vexed by the slender scoreline at the interval.
The Reds will hope that, at the time of writing, their first-half profligacy won’t come back to haunt them against a team who’ve lost eight of their nine home matches in the Premier League so far this season.
That only one other team has had so many shots on target in a top-flight match prior to half-time shows just how utterly dominant Liverpool have been. The crucial factor, though, is that they didn’t put the result out of sight by the interval.
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Remember Burnley are down at the bottom so we are lucky to be 1-0 up !
The only other side with eight shots on target in the first half of a Premier League game this season was Newcastle against Sheffield United in September. That ended 8-0. This arguably should be 8-0 already.