Virgil van Dijk will join Liverpool’s exclusive list of players if he finds the net when they take on Leicester in the Premier League on Boxing Day.
If Van Dijk scores, he will become the 15th player in Liverpool history to score for the club in an entire week.
The following players have already achieved the feat:
Philippe Coutinho, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson, Emile Heskey, Sami Hyfia, Sadio Mane, Steve McManaman, James Milner, Divock Origi, Michael Owen, John Arne Riise, Ian Rush, Mo Salah.
Salah is three goals away from scoring his 100th goal for the club in the Premier League at Anfield.
Salah is three goals away from joining Thierry Henry in joint 7th place on the Premier League’s all-time scorers chart. Henry scored 175 goals.
Liverpool now risk four suspensions.
Ryan Gravenberch, Cody Gakpo, Dominik Szoboszlai and Darwin Nunez are all one away from being handed a one-game suspension after accumulating five yellow cards.
festival feast
Liverpool finished first on Christmas Day for the 21st time in the club’s history. This is the highest record for any team in history.
This will be their 93rd Boxing Day match and their 45th at Anfield. They have won 45 of their previous 92 matches.
Their biggest home win of the day was an 8-0 thrashing of Burnley in 1928.
Liverpool have scored 20 goals in each of their last seven games on December 26, conceding just one goal, and have scored 18 goals in their last five games.
Only once before has Liverpool started a game at 8pm on Boxing Day.
In 2019, Liverpool won the Premier League title with a 4-0 win over tonight’s opponents Leicester.
They played the Foxes five times on this day, with the Reds winning three and drawing one, with their only defeat coming in 1984.
records vs fox
Liverpool have won nine of their last 12 league games against Leicester. That equals wins in their previous 21 games against the Foxes.
They have won each of their last four games against the Foxes at Anfield. Not since 1966-71 have they won five successive titles in front of the Kop.
Liverpool’s three goals will mark their 200th goal against the Foxes in all competitions.
Leicester’s slump
Leicester has conceded the first goal in 13 of 17 Premier League games this season.
They have kept one clean sheet in the top flight this season and none in their last 10.
Leicester have won one of their last nine league games, beating West Ham 3-1 at home in Ruud van Nistelrooy’s first game in charge.
Rude is back
Van Nistelrooy scored three goals in 11 encounters with Liverpool during his career.
He has won twice and five times at Anfield but has never scored in five outings in front of the Kop.
The first two managers to be sacked in the top league this season were both replaced by Van Nistelrooy.
Van Nistelrooy took over as interim manager following Erik Ten Hag’s dismissal from Manchester United, and was appointed Leicester manager following the sacking of Steve Cooper a month ago.
referee for the first time
Darren Bond takes over for the first time at Anfield.
He only refereed Liverpool once. It was a 3-2 win in the Carabao Cup held in Brighton two months ago.
scorer this season
Leicester: Vardy 6, Ayew 4, Buonanotte 4, Mavididi 3, El Khannouss 2, Justin 2, Coady 1, Daka 1, De Cordova-Reid 1, Faes 1, Ndidi 1, Winks 1
Liverpool: Salah 18, Diaz 11, Gakpo 9, Jota 5, Nunez 4, Mac Allister 3, Szoboszlai 3, Jones 2, Konate 2, Van Dijk 2, Elliott 1
* Statistics provided by LFC statistician Ged Rea (@ged0407).
