Liverpool 2-1 Leicester: Wour Faes scores two OWN GOALS

If Liverpool’s £44million signing Cody Gakpo wanted an example of what a crazy league he’s coming into, this was it.

Gakpo was in the Anfield crowd to witness a highly unorthodox evening in which hapless Leicester defender Wout Faes took centre stage with two comical own goals that matched his surname.

Liverpool barely deserved to take their fourth win in a row – ‘very poor’ was Virgil van Dijk’s description of their performance – but The Kop had a high old time, shouting ‘shoo-oot’ at poor Faes every time the ball was at his feet.

Liverpool sealed a 2-1 victory over Leicester City at Anfield after two own goals from Wout Faes

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall opened the scoring for the Foxes in just the fourth minute of the match

Belgium defender Faes sliced the ball past his goalkeeper Danny Ward in the 38th minute

Alarming gaps in the Liverpool defence were a regular feature and it cost them the opening goal after four minutes when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was given the freedom of Merseyside to score.

But with Mo Salah’s radar not working and Darwin Nunez struggling to buy a goal despite another good all-round performance, their saviour came in the unlikely form of the mop-haired Belgian international Faes who until Friday night had been one of the Premier League’s most reliable centre-halves this season.

After 38 minutes, Trent Alexander Arnold’s low cross to the near post wasn’t anywhere near a red shirt but Faes made a complete hash of his clearance, miskicking with his left boot so it spun backwards past goalkeeper Danny Ward and into the corner of the net.

The irony was that there was no need for the Belgian to clear as he didn’t have a Liverpool striker behind him and Ward was well-positioned to gather and had given him a shout to leave.

The shellshocked look on Leicester faces said it all and though Ward gave Faes an encouraging pat on the back following the leveller, there was nobody to console him after he made a second howler to give Liverpool an unexpected and undeserved lead on the stroke of half-time.

The ball ricocheted off Oxlade-Chamberlain into the path of Nunez. The Uruguayan hasn’t been clinical this season and there were gasps when he clipped a finish over Ward only to strike the post.

Fortunately for him, Faes then tried to whack the rebound clear as he stretched facing his goal and looked in horror as it flew in.

This time he rubbed his curly mop in disbelief as he became only the fourth Premier League player to score two own goals in the same game – and the first since Stoke’s Jonathan Walters in 2013.

Ironically, the first of the quartet Jamie Carragher was on commentary duty for Sky Sports to see Faes follow in his footsteps.

Faes blasted a clearance from Darwin Nunez’s effort into his own net again seven minutes later

Not that fellow centre-half van Dijk had any sympathy for his opponent. ‘No, no,’ he said firmly. ‘If you go onto the pitch with that attitude, you are already 1-0 or 2-0 down before you start.

‘At times we were very poor but, cliched as it sounds, it was important to get the three points. It wasn’t good enough today, we all know that and there are plenty of things to improve.

‘But job done with the result, let’s keep it that way.’

There was an emotional minute’s applause before kick off both for Brazilian icon Pele – Liverpool’s goalkeeper Alisson held a yellow wreath in tribute to his countrymen – and former Reds striker David Johnson.

Whether Liverpool were distracted it’s hard to say, but Leicester didn’t have to work too hard to take the lead after four minutes.

A neat touch from Patson Daka allowed Dewsbury-Hall to easily run past Jordan Henderson and the centre of Liverpool’s defence parted to allow him to run through and score his first goal since the opening day.

There were recriminations in the Reds ranks with Thiago and Virgil van Dijk pointing fingers. Neither van Dijk nor Andy Robertson had taken responsibility to press the scorer.

It was a huge boost for Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers, sacked by Liverpool before Klopp took over in 2015, and his side still looked in control despite Daka limping off to be replaced by Jamie Vardy.

Jurgen Klopp was pleased with the three points but unhappy with aspects of the performance

Salah, playing closer to Nunez in a Klopp tactical tweak went close with a snapshot finally but it still took 35 minutes for them to have a shot on target when Henderson’s bobbler was held by Danny Ward.

Then out of nothing, the high farce changed everything for Liverpool to go into half-time leading.

They looked more confident going forward after that with Henderson close with a curler, Nunez setting up Salah with a fabulous pass that the Egyptian missed, and then Nunez twice going close himself.

But Leicester were never out of it with Liverpool vulnerable in defence. Vardy slipped at the wrong time and then Harvey Barnes was foiled by a combination of Alisson and Andy Robertson. They missed James Maddison, still out with a knee injury.

The Reds are pushing for a top four spot in an immensely competitive season 

Brendan Rodgers was left to rue his team’s misfortune at Anfield, his old stomping ground

Rodgers felt luck had been against them. ‘You can’t plan for those seven minutes. It was difficult to take. Since he has been with us, he’s been brilliant.

‘It was just freakish really and was unfortunate with the second but defenders need to make decisions. I have no doubt about his character coming back from that. He’ll go again.’

The good news for Leicester is that Madisson has had good news from his scan and should be able to resume training in a week to 10 days. ‘He takes this team to a different dimension. We need to get him back,’ added Rodgers.

You can re-live all the action from Sportsmail’s live blog for the Premier League clash between Liverpool and Leicester.