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2024/25 English Premier League
Matchday 23
Liverpool v Ipswich Town
Anfield
Liverpool, England
Saturday, 25 January 2025
Kick-off is at 15h00
Liverpool will be aiming to keep their
Premier League title challenge going full tilt when relegation-threatened Ipswich visit Anfield on Saturday, January 25.
The Reds returned to winning ways as they beat Brentford 2-0 in West London on January 18 to go six points clear at the top of the table and extend their unbeaten run to 17 matches.
Arne Slot's side have only lost one of their opening 21 fixtures and Darwin Nunez's late brace against the Bees took their tally to 50 goals for the season.
Arsenal remain in second place after they could only muster a 2-2 draw with Aston Villa on January 18 which allowed Nottingham Forest to go level with them on 44 points courtesy of a 3-2 win over rock-bottom Southampton.
Manchester City climbed back into the top four with a 6-0 thrashing of the Tractor Boys at Portman Road on January 19, having gone above Newcastle on goal difference with both teams tied on 38 points.
The Suffolk outfit are kept in the relegation zone on goal difference behind Wolves, who were due to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on January 20.
Leicester also lost on matchday 22 to sit two points adrift of safety in 19th position, but the Saints' cause looks hopeless as they trail the Foxes by eight points at the foot of the table.
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Slot has an almost fully-fit squad to choose from, with just Joe Gomez (thigh) ruled out as Diogo Jota could come back into contention against Ipswich.
Kalvin Phillips is available again for Kieran McKenna's side after being ineligible to face parent club City, but Chiedozie Ogbene (calf), Conor Chaplin (knee) and Sammie Szmodics (ankle) remain on the sidelines.
Slot was happy to be proven wrong after seeing Nunez score twice in stoppage time to snatch all three points at Brentford after admitting he had doubts about finding the back of the net.
"Yes, of course I had doubts about that because before we scored the two goals it felt as if I was looking at the same game again and again and again and in the same pattern," the Dutchman said.
"I said it already a few times in other interviews that against [Manchester] United everybody was focused on the [Harry] Maguire chance but [in] the seven minutes before we had three open chances.
"So many times in recent weeks – against Tottenham as well – we missed a lot of chances, against [Nottingham] Forest we missed a lot. So, it would have been a bit surprising if I felt, 'OK, after all these chances missed today, we will probably score in the last five minutes.' But the players proved me wrong again."
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McKenna felt his team had been in the game against City for the opening 25 minutes, but a combination of poor defending and the opposition's quality led to their biggest defeat of the season.
"A really difficult game. I thought they were much better than us, of course," he said. "There were lots of positives in the early parts of the game, we could easily have had the first goal.
"For 20-25 minutes it was really similar to some of our best performances here, a little bit open on the transition with [Erling] Haaland, but other than that some good stuff.
"Their quality took the game away from us, we didn't defend our box well enough, we made some big errors and opened up the game too much at times. We were punished by a top opponent."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Liverpool wins - 3
Ipswich wins - 1
Draws - 1
Premier League Matchday 23 fixtures:
Saturday, January 25
15h00: Bournemouth v Nottingham Forest
15h00: Brighton & Hove Albion v Everton
15h00: Liverpool v Ipswich Town
15h00: Southampton v Newcastle United
15h00: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal
17h30: Manchester City v Chelsea
Sunday, January 26
14h00: Crystal Palace v Brentford
14h00: Tottenham Hotspur v Leicester City
16h30: Aston Villa v West Ham United
19h00: Fulham v Manchester United
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