Liverpool fell behind and Leicester City fostered hopes of scoring an unlikely upset at Anfield, but Arne Slot’s crew knew their jobs and operated like consummate and cultured professionals.

The campaign is less than a week away from the new year, and the dream of lifting the Premier League title is starting to take a tangible shape. Liverpool have simply been the best club in England this term, so stylish and skilful and single-minded in their drive toward stardom.

Leicester fought their fight and they fought it well, but when an outfit is rooted in such deep conviction and belief, anything feels achievable and the Reds have married such belief with the abundance of talent layered through Anfield’s first team.

Jordan Ayew struck early, but Liverpool’s sharpest attacking points made sure to turn the situation on its head and send the Reds seven points clear.

Liverpool's best performers vs Leicester

There’s a burning passion within this crop of players, desperate to reach the loftiest heights this season. Liverpool faced adversity yet again against the Foxes but stuck to their plan and triumphed.

Cody Gakpo, Curtis Jones and Mohamed Salah bagged the goals, all three taking their strikes well as they propelled Liverpool deeper into the driving seat. Even if Arsenal defeat Ipswich Town this evening, the Merseysiders will be six points clear with a game in hand.

Reporter DavidOCKOP said that “it wasn’t as fluid up front as it was at Tottenham but Liverpool found a way.” This is true, but with players borne with as much ball-striking quality as Gakpo and Salah, and with midfielders like Jones blessed with the positional sense to anticipate and guide home following slick sequences, Liverpool are in good hands.

But what about the unsung hero? He didn’t score, but Alexis Mac Allister was perhaps the architect of a well-earned victory, assisting twice and producing an all-encompassing midfield performance to behold.

Alexis Mac Allister was Liverpool's unsung hero

Mac Allister hasn’t stolen the headlines this season, but his tactical intelligence and combative presence have added the steel that Liverpool’s midfield requires alongside the elegant Ryan Gravenberch.

He’s only notched five goal contributions across 24 matches in all competitions this year, but he’s thrived through non-goal-metric parameters, winning possession, controlling play and creating openings from where his attack-minded peers can strike.

Against Leicester, The Liverpool Echo’s Ian Doyle praised Mac Allister, 25, for his technical quality and link-up play, acknowledging the ‘very accomplished’ performance and awarding him an 8/10 match rating.

As per Sofascore, Mac Allister complemented his brace of assists by taking control, seeing 70 touches of the ball, completing 88% of his passes, winning a whopping eight duels and four tackles besides.

With yet another all-encompassing display in the engine room, Liverpool’s Argentina sensation is beginning to look like the second coming of Philippe Coutinho, perhaps even more dynamic and complete than the former Anfield hero, albeit lacking some of the Brazilian’s raw panache and balletic art.

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Liverpool signed Coutinho from Inter Milan for a shrewd £8.5m fee in January 2013 and fashioned him into one of Europe’s eminent playmakers, with his remarkable displays in England’s top flight impelling Barcelona to fork out a staggering £142m fee for his signature in January 2018.

Below are Coutinho’s metrics at Liverpool in the half-season before his move to Spain. He never restored the same giddy heights.

Matches (starts)

14 (13)

Goals

7

Assists

6

Pass accuracy

79%

Key passes*

2.9

Dribbles*

2.8

Tackles*

1.2

Total duels won*

5.6

As you can see, Coutinho was a creative “genius”, as he was once described by Klopp, but also made sure to get stuck in; he rarely shirked from his defensive duties and dived in for the duel.

Mac Allister is the latest iteration. He’s different, not so awe-inspiring. Not quite. Instead, Slot has his own perfect version, and while Salah and so on stepped into the limelight with a resounding goalscoring showing, let’s tip our hats to the man in the middle who’s making this absurdly good Liverpool side tick.

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