Liverpool maintained their 100% start to the season by beating Leicester despite a comical mistake from Alisson.
Sadio Mane opened the scoring for Jurgen Klopp’s side after 10 minutes before Roberto Firmino doubled their lead on the brink of half-time.
Rachid Ghezzal halved the deficit on 63 minutes after Kelechi Iheanacho robbed Reds keeper Alisson in his area.
Victory means Liverpool have won their first four league games of the campaign for the first time since 1990-91.
Liverpool’s Egypt striker Mohamed Salah had an uncharacteristically quiet game after missing a golden opportunity early on and was replaced by Xherdan Shaqiri with 20 minutes left.
Leicester did perhaps deserve more as only a fine Joe Gomez tackle denied James Maddison early in the second period, while Demarai Gray and Wes Morgan also had chances to score.
And it was former Roma keeper Alisson, who had not conceded a goal in club football since last season’s Champions League semi-final second leg, who gifted the Foxes a way back into the game on the hour mark.
However, Klopp will be pleased with the way his backline withstood late pressure from the hosts, with Gomez impressing again at centre-back as England manager Gareth Southgate watched on.
Liverpool can call on an old saying to bolster their confidence even further after making it four wins from four at the start of the Premier League season – namely that it is a sign of champions that you can still win when well short of your best.
And this certainly applied here with Klopp’s side mediocre for long periods, yet still emerging victorious in the face of Leicester’s spirited challenge.
Liverpool opened in the sort of blistering fashion that has blown teams apart in the past, with Salah missing an open goal even before Mane pounced on a rebound off Harry Maguire to score after only 10 minutes.
They then, surprisingly, became subdued and went into their shell, only to score against the run of play as Firmino guided in Milner’s corner on the stroke of half-time.
Liverpool looked rocky under pressure as Leicester stepped up the pace after the break, with even the normally unflappable Virgil van Dijk rattled as he was put under a real examination.
They could not control midfield, while Salah was, for once, totally out of sorts and could have no complaints when he was eventually replaced by Shaqiri.
For all that, Liverpool dug deep and secured another three points in a season when they and Klopp know there will be little or no margin for error.
On another day Salah will shine, their defence will be in control and goalkeeper Alisson will not make the sort of horrendous error that turned up the heat on Liverpool even further.
There will be days throughout Liverpool’s season when the result will over-ride the performance – and this was undoubtedly one of them.
