Liverpool vs Leicester LIVE: Premier League latest score and updates after Ayew goal shocks leaders early

That wasn’t in the script! Leicester have taken the lead! Mavididi beats Alexander-Arnold and crosses, Ayew shoulders Andy Robertson out the way and turns to fire low past Alisson, into the bottom corner! His 50th goal in English football, the Foxes lead 1-0!

Very early for a “should be ahead” post but…Liverpool should be ahead. A deep cross from the left finds Salah on the right and his initial shot is parried, it drops to Curtis Jones and he seems as though he just needs to roll it in…but in shifting it from one foot to the other it seems to get stuck under him a little, the keeper is out quickly and Leicester get bodies back to clear.

The fog is thick but seemingly lifted slightly in the past hour or so. Liverpool in red, kicking towards the Kop in the first half after Leicester won the toss.

As for Leicester, they started the Boxing Day round of games outside the bottom three – but with Wolves beating Manchester United, they’ve leapfrogged them.

One point separates the sides, with the Foxes now 18th, but Wolves have the better goal difference.

Victory at Anfield for Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side will see them go level on points with Everton and Crystal Palace, while of course re-overtaking Wolves. A big ask, nonetheless.

Leicester have won just one of their last 10 Boxing Day league games (D2 L7), with that coming in 2018-19 against eventual champions Manchester City.

The Foxes lost 4-0 against Newcastle and 3-0 against Wolves in their last two Premier League games. They last lost three consecutive league games by a margin of 3+ goals back in November 1958.

Jamie Vardy has scored eight Premier League goals against Liverpool, with only Andrew Cole (11) and Harry Kane (9) netting more against the Reds in the competition.

So after Chelsea lost late on to Fulham earlier today, Liverpool have the chance to go a massive seven points clear at the top heading toward the new year – and they still have a game in hand, too.

Arsenal don’t play until tomorrow and they could cut that lead by a point if they win, while reigning champions Man City look well out of it – another draw today, against Everton, means that ahead of kick off Liverpool are 11 points clear of them, having played two fewer.

Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 21 matches in all competitions (W18 D3). It’s their longest run without defeat since a streak of 25 between April and November 2021, and their longest within a single season since a run of 24 between January and May 1989.

The Reds have conceded eight goals in their last three Premier League games, as many as they had in their first 13 under Arne Slot. However, the Reds have scored at least twice in each of their last nine league games, their longest such run since September-December 2021 (11).

If Mo Salah scores, he will become the eighth player to score 100+ goals on home soil in the league.

Are you not entertained? After the seven-goal thriller came the excitement of nine goals. Tottenham found a way to go two better, but also significantly worse. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has witnessed 16 goals in four days, Spurs have veered from winning 4-3 to losing 6-3. Angeball can veer from the brilliant to the ridiculous, but rarely quite to this extent. And in reply to Ange Postecoglou’s question on Thursday: it was hugely entertaining, but this time too much of the entertainment came at Tottenham’s expense.

Even as Liverpool’s previously impressive defensive record took another dent – it is now eight goals conceded in three league games – they suggested they had a better balance. They have excelled at winning under Arne Slot but have rarely run riot. This time they did both, scoring six in a game for the first time under the Dutchman. “It was very good, maybe it was our best performance away from home,” said Slot, bracketing it with the 3-0 win at Manchester United.

It was certainly their most explosive attacking display, spearheaded – with a certain inevitability – by Mohamed Salah. He ended his afternoon with two goals, two assists and a sense he was too good for Djed Spence, the makeshift left-back luckless enough to be his immediate opponent. Luis Diaz, the stand-in centre-forward who has proved hugely effective there, added a double to his hat-trick against Bayer Leverkusen.

Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 12 Premier League home games against Leicester (W10 D2), since losing three in a row between 1997 and 2000.

Leicester have won just two of their last 12 Premier League games against Liverpool (D1 L9). They’ve had three runs of three consecutive defeats in this run (including a current one), but they’ve not lost four straight league games against the Reds since between 1987 and 1996.

These two sides have had 140 previous official meetings, with the first taking place in 1895. Overall, Liverpool have won 47, Leicester have won 35, and 22 have ended as draws.

These two sides met in the League Cup last season, with the Reds winning 3-1 in September 2023.

The last time these two sides met in the league was in May 2023, when Liverpool won 3-0 thanks to a goal from Trent Alexander-Arnold and a brace from Curtis Jones.