Alexander-Arnold cracker eases Liverpool to FA Cup win against Accrington Stanley
Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold celebrates scoring his side's second goal against Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup. Picture: Peter Byrne/PA Wire.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was handed a surprise start and the captain’s armband as Liverpool enjoyed comfortable passage through to the FA Cup fourth round against their League Two opponents.
Diogo Jota, Jayden Danns and Federico Chiesa were the other scorers as Arne Slot’s first taste of FA Cup football also featured a start for Rio Ngumoha who, at 16 years and 135 days, became the youngest player ever to start a game for Liverpool.
Alexander-Arnold was the only starter from the side that began last weekend’s Premier League draw with Manchester United, an indication, perhaps, that Slot was keen to allow him to shrug off all the noise that has surrounded his pursuit by Real Madrid this month.
And it was the full-back who put the tie beyond all reasonable doubt when he scored Liverpool’s second on the stroke of half-time, after the breakdown of a corner.
Dominik Szoboszlai’s short pass found the England defender in space on the corner of the Accrington area and Alexander-Arnold finished with a superb shot into the top corner of the League Two side’s goal.
It was no surprise that the Premier League leaders should have an advantage at the interval but they took their time to find their rhythm, against a team some 86 places beneath them in the pyramid.
Jota finally broke the deadlock on 29 minutes, although there had been precious few threats to the Stanley goal to that point, despite complete Liverpool dominance in terms of possession.
The goal eventually came from a poor free-kick from the visitors which launched Liverpool into a counter offensive, Alexander-Arnold eventually playing a ball into the channel for Darwin Nunez to chase.
The striker pulled the ball across goal for Jota to tap into an open net from six yards and finally kill off Accrington’s determined resistance.
Nunez had missed the only chance to that point, booting an effort high and wide from 12 yards after Billy Crellin had done well to stick out a boot and deny Alexander-Arnold’s strike from the edge of the the area.
After the goal, Harvey Elliott shot straight at Crellin, Tyler Morton just cleared the bar from 25 yards and Nunez had a hopeful shot blocked by Zach Awe.
After the restart, the second half began with Crellin blocking a Nunez shot and substitute Chiesa having a shot deflected into the side-netting.
But Stanley enjoyed their best spell of the match, attacking the end where their 4,800 supporters were gathered, around the hour mark and Josh Woods almost had a moment to remember when he cut in from a corner and thundered a shot against the bar.
Another Accrington corner was almost productive in the 64th minute, when a short routine ended with Shaun Whalley picking out Donald Love who failed to keep down his shot.
But, with Chiesa increasingly threatening, the Italian helped carve out a third goal for the hosts after 76 minutes when his shot struck Crellin in the face and Liverpool sub Danns scored from the rebound.
Chiesa looked like he would be denied a deserved first goal for the club, when his shot hit the upright, but in the final minute he picked up Trey Nyoni’s pass and his 20-yard shot flew in off the far post.
Kelleher 6; Alexander-Arnold 8 (Bradley 60, 5), Quansah 6, Endo 7 (Nyoni 79, 5), Tsimikas 7; Morton 7 (McConnell 61, 5), Szoboszlai 7 (Chiesa 46, 7); Elliott 7, Jota 7, Ngumoha 7 (Danns 72, 5); Nunez 5.
Diaz, Jaros, Mac Allister, Robertson.
Crellin 7; Love 7, Rawson 7, Awe 7, Martin 6 (Connelly 63, 5); J Woods 7 (O’Brien 63, 6), Khumbeni 5 (Coyle 46, 5), B Woods 7; Hunter 6 (Henderson 46, 5); Walton 6 (Mooney 78, 5), Whalley 7.
Aljofree, Batty, Kelly, Knowles.
L Smith 6
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