Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold has admitted that Virgil van Dijk is not happy with him after picking up cuts on his knees while celebrating his late winner in Sunday’s dramatic 4-3 victory against Fulham.
Alexander-Arnold had the last laugh in a seven-goal thriller at Anfield, netting an 88th-minute clincher to move the Reds up to second in the Premier League table, leapfrogging Manchester City and reducing the gap on leaders Arsenal back to two points.
To celebrate his goal, Alexander-Arnold dived chest-first towards the corner flag in Jurgen Klinsmann-like fashion, with several of his teammates – including Van Dijk – following with knee-slides.
“I think you can see by the celebration how much it meant,” Alexander-Arnold told Liverpool’s club channels. “I’ve got a big cut on my knee so I didn’t want to risk reopening that with a knee-slide so I thought I had to do something. You can see the emotion in it, how much it meant to the team and the fans.”
When asked if Van Dijk was happy with him, Alexander-Arnold replied: “He’s got cuts on his knees because it’s the first time he’s done a knee slide. For someone like him who is calm and composed to knee slide shows how much it meant to the team.
“It was massively important to stay in and around the top of the table. We’ve got a big week ahead of us which starts in midweek, it was good to get momentum going into that.”
Liverpool had taken the lead in the first half when Alexander-Arnold fired in a free kick off the underside of the crossbar, but were pulled back on level terms when Harry Wilson scored for Fulham. A cracker from Alexis Mac Allister put the hosts in front again, only for Kenny Tete to find a second equaliser.
After the break, Bobby De-Cordova Reid notched Fulham ahead for the first time on the day before Liverpool came up with a grandstand finish. Wataru Endo’s thunderbolt brought his side level again on 87 minutes, with Alexander-Arnold winning it a minute later.
“I don’t even know if I can sum it up in one word, delighted really,” Alexander-Arnold said of the match as a whole.
“We needed the three points with Arsenal getting the result, we needed to stay in touching distance – at this time of year, the games come thick and fast, if you can pick up momentum in the Christmas and January period and come out with wins going into February and March… this isn’t the right time to drop points.
“At home, we need to be putting games away, we controlled the game but all three of the goals we conceded were sloppy.
“We got punished for our sloppiness at the end of the day, it wasn’t about luck, they took advantage when we were not at our best, but it was important for us to get three points.”
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