It was the final Premier League match day of the season for Liverpool and West Bromwich Albion and it ended in a draw at The Hawthorns. The hosts finished the season at 14th place while Liverpool finished it at 8th – falling short on the automatic qualification for the Europa League.
West Brom scored the opening goal with a beautiful finish by Salomon Rondon after 13 minutes, while Liverpool equalised a bit later with a spectacular goal by youngster Jordon Ibe – which happened to be his first Premier League goal.
The match wasn’t a very interesting one and although Liverpool dominated possession through the entire second half, they didn’t really create clear-cut chances to score the second goal.
Here are the five talking points from the match.
1) Danny Ings and Jordan Henderson back
Liverpool fans must have been pleased seeing Danny Ings return to the pitch. The young striker, who was out for seven months after he ruptured a cruciate ligament in manager Jurgen Klopp’s first training session, was rewarded for his fight against injury and appeared 30 minutes before full time.
Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson also made a recovery sooner than expected and returned inside six weeks after being ruled out with a knee ligament injury.
These two early recoveries for Liverpool could possibly help the team minutely as it would give the manager more options to choose from in the Europa League final against Sevilla on Wednesday.
2) Rondon threatening
Salomon Rondon was perhaps West Brom’s most dangerous player on the field. He attacked right from the onset and apart from scoring West Brom’s only goal, he created many chances for them, particularly a solid double chance towards the end of the game.
His goal was set up by Leko, who weaved through three Liverpool players before sending the ball through to Rondon who blasted it low past the Liverpool goalkeeper Adam Bogdan. Later in the second half, he got his head to a cross but couldn’t direct it into the net.
Rondon is known to also be strong in the air and was causing all sorts of troubles for Liverpool’s skipper for the day, Lucas Leiva, who is not even a centre-back. Martin Skrtel also struggled at times against the West Brom striker.
3) Liverpool’s young team
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp again put out a young side against West Brom like he did against Watford having made 11 changes after the previous league face off against Chelsea, ahead of Wednesday night’s Europa League final against Sevilla.
it was a special occasion particularly for youngster Cameron Brannagan as he was handed his full Premier League debut in this final match of the season, for Sergi Canos who made his Premier League debut by coming on as a substitute and for Jordon Ibe who scored his first Premier League goal.
Ibe cut in off the right flank and dashed into the box with incredible skill before sending a low, left-footed finish straight into the net. The young Liverpool attacker has not been a regular member of Jurgen Klopp’s team this season but the goal showed that Ibe does have the talent to perform in the Premier League.
4) Sergi Canos debut
The young Spaniard Sergi Canos made his debut for Liverpool after coming on as a substitute for Sheyi Ojo in the 80th minute. The Spaniard undertook a loan move to Championship side Brentford in August 2015 and just returned from it and was pushed straight into the Liverpool squad.
The 19-year-old arrived at Liverpool from Barcelona in the summer of 2013. An attacking player, who can play either on the right flank or through the middle, Canos can start and finish attacks with equal capability.
He featured regularly for the U18 side, made his U21s debut at the start of the 2014-15 season and showed promise across the campaign. With him coming on in this match, he could be another exciting prospect for Liverpool fans.
5) Liverpool miss out on Europa League spot
Liverpool had to finish sixth in the league standings to get a spot in the Europa League next season but finished 8th, three points behind 6th placed Manchester United.
Jurgen Klopp certainly has stamped his playing style onto the club but that hasn’t helped the Merseysiders break into the European places this season, despite a few great performances in the Premier League.
This Europa League final against Sevilla on Wednesday night will be extremely important for the Reds. If Liverpool win the final, they get themselves a Champions League spot next season and with Jurgen Klopp as their manager, great things are possible.
