Almost there now and this one was refreshingly stress free for the most part. The West Brom game had been torturous but this was ok really. At least the second half was.

That goal just before half time was massive as prior to that the first half had been a familiar tale of missed chances and frustration. Going ahead just before the break is always a nice bonus, but especially so when the pressure is on.

Even before the goal I wasn’t especially unhappy with how the half went though. Maybe I’m in a minority there but I thought we were doing ok. Defensively we had some wobbles and we gave up a couple of good opportunities with basic balls over the top, so that was a concern and some of our passing left a lot to be desired. So while I didn’t think we were playing great, we had some big, big chances that we fluffed so there was goals in this for us if we stopped being shit.

Had we converted a couple of those great chances then would people (specifically Sky) really have been talking about how poor we’d been? I don’t think so, because we weren't bad at all. Goals change the narrative though and too often this season our finishing has been so risible that it’s made the performances seem worse than they probably were. 

It’s not so bad when it’s the keeper having a worldie, but most of the time we just don’t even hit the target and that was our problem again. It started early too. Mo had a shot blocked by Ben Mee after Robbo sent him clear, but looking at the replay I think that shot was headed nearer the corner flag than the goal.

Tarkowski did later the same with Sadio although I think that one may have been on target. The Burnley defenders are great at that, as we've seen to our cost at Anfield a couple of times. Of course they also had Nick fucking Pope having the games of his career behind them, which also helps. Thankfully he wasn't there to fuck our shit up this time.

It's not happening for Sadio at the moment and he had managed to put one miles wide from two fucking yards in the first few minutes. It proved to be infectious, as Thiago shot wide after a brilliant move and Phillips put one over the bar when he should have done better.

Nat had more time than he realised and could have let the ball drop a little more. Instead he snatched at it. But he’s a centre back and you almost expect that. The forwards missing the target annoys me far more.

Sadio put another one wide after being picked out well by Salah, whose link up and decision making has been great these past few games. That wasn’t the easiest chance but again, just hit the target and who knows? 

Next it was Mo's turn to balloon one over after getting his feet a little bit mixed up. His first touch to gather Robbo’s pass over the top was sensational but he didn’t hit it when he should and then had to check his stride pattern, which caused him to sky the shot.

Now I was getting really fucking fed up with the finishing. The amount of chances we miss is staggering. We’re like a Harrods version of Brighton. We had 20 attempts in this game and only managed three on target, all of which went in because Burnley had some nomark in goal. I was never great at maths, but by my calculations that means we had 17 attempts that didn’t even hit the target. What the fuck?

Burnley had a few chances of their own but their finishing was just as bad as ours. Lowton had a goal bound shot blocked by the head of Williams. That shook him up a little and he wanted to stay down to get treatment only for Thiago to lift him up and tell him to get on with it. Not sure that was the wisest move given we were defending a corner and Rhys would have needed all his wits about him. Thankfully it didn’t cost us.

The best chance they came from a long ball over the top of Williams (who could do nothing about it) that Wood ran onto. By the time he reached the ball he was almost on the corner of the six yard box so I have to wonder why Alisson didn’t come out and deal with that earlier. Phillips wasn’t covering around the back of Williams either and had Burnley scored from that it would have been a horrendous goal to concede. I actually thought he was offside so maybe VAR would have intervened.

There was another anxious moment when Williams inexplicably let a long ball go over his head instead of just clearing it. Brownhill got in behind him but as he shaped to shoot, young Rhys got back in and made a superb block. The best thing about that kid is he never gets unsettled even when he’s had a bad moment. He’s completely unruffled and has a fantastic temperament.

McNeil also stung the palms of Alisson and in terms of chances it was nip and tuck. I just felt our chances were clearer and that we should have been winning. And by half time we were as we eventually found the breakthrough through Bobby, but even that wasn’t a good finish and the keeper should have saved it. 

The lesson there though is hit the target and you always have a chance. It was a nice move and he was well picked out by Robbo. The move that led to this was something we were doing all the time when we were winning regularly. That link up between Sadio and Robbo down the left has been broken for months though. 

Robbo hasn’t looked at his best for a while but to me that’s mostly because Sadio has been 1) shite and 2) spending less and less time on the left and more in the middle. The result of that is Robbo often gets the ball and has to either go backwards or to try and go on the outside and force a cross.

When we’re playing well, Sadio is always there for a pass and between them they’ll work an overlap that gets one of them in. That just hasn’t been happening recently but it’s more Sadio’s fault than Robbo’s I’d say. 

You look at how simple they made it look for the first goal and it’s frustrating that we haven’t done it more often. The ease with which they played their way in and then the simplicity of the cutback for the late arriving Firmino, that’s what we’ve done so well over the last few years so it was nice to see we haven’t completely forgotten how to do it.

The second goal too. Robbo has the ball and Sadio comes towards him and then makes a darting run behind to receive the pass. It’s those little things that we’ve been missing. Or too often when we have done it the ball in hasn’t been good enough. 

This time it was as Sadio stood one up to the far post where Big Nat thumped in a header. It wasn’t quite Alisson scoring in stoppage time but it was still a fucking great moment wasn’t it? I’m more pleased for him than he is for himself. I genuinely don’t think he’s that arsed that he scored you know. Goals don’t pay his rent and he knows that. He just wants to win and for us to not concede. Proper old school defender.

Burnley didn’t threaten us too much in the second half but they did enjoy some sustained spells of relative pressure. We dealt with it well and I wasn’t too concerned about it because the more they tried to put us under pressure the more chance there was for us to pick them off with a trademark counter attack.

It nearly happened a few times, most notably when Firmino put one in behind for Mo to chase and he got there ahead of Taylor but was nudged off balance as he tried to knock it past the keeper. I’ve seen penalties given for considerably less than that, although I’m not saying I think it was a penalty.

Interestingly though, Burnley were given a free-kick a couple of minutes later for something similar when Phillips leaned on Taylor, but it’s a lot easier to give a free-kick for that kind of thing than it is a penalty. I’m not complaining, just making an observation really.

They were getting too many set-pieces though and regardless of how well we defended them (and we did defend most of them superbly) the law of averages means that eventually one of them will land on a Burnley head. When it did, Tarkowski sent it goalwards but Phillips got back to head it away from under the bar. He then stuck his head on the follow up too. What a fucking hero.

Him and Williams may have had some issues in the first half but in the second they were spot on, especially Phillips who seemed to clear every cross that came into the box. Alisson was good too with the aerial stuff and came for a lot. He wasn’t catching much but he was clearing the danger and between the three of them they dealt with the aerial assault really well.

We looked tired in the second half though and we weren’t keeping the ball at all. This was inviting them to come at us with long balls and set-pieces, and while we were coping you can never feel entirely comfortable as a goal changes everything. Klopp sensed this and sent on the safety blanket. There’s just something reassuring when you see Milner coming on to steady the ship isn’t there?

He replaced Gini who wasn’t at his best. Neither was Fabinho for that matter. He was uncharacteristically sloppy and both of them looked goosed, especially next to Thiago who has been spritely as fuck lately and just seems to pop up everywhere. 

You know that daft expression about how you’re never more than six feet away from a rat or whatever it is? It’s clearly bollocks, but it applies to Thiago and the ball. Wherever the ball is he’s never more than ten yards away from it. Even when he plays a long pass out wide he's usually the first one over there supporting the man with the ball. He never stops moving.

He was class again and I’m just so happy (and relieved) that he is now looking like the player we all wanted him to be for us. For a while I worried there but not any more, he’s stepped up massively these last few weeks and he's obviously going to be a really big player for us next season.

Klopp sent on Ox for Bobby and that was a move I was fully on board with. Not specifically because I wanted Bobby hooked at that point (although about 30 seconds before he scored my Dad said "I'd take Bobby off and put Shaqiri on" to which I replied "yeah me too"), but the way the game was going we needed energy and pace as it was clear that we weren’t going to dominate possession so we needed to be able to break on them when we won it back.

Surprisingly Ox played the false nine role, which in theory I quite like, especially away from home in a stretched game. Against a packed defence I can’t see that working at all but when he’s got the opportunity to run and shoot then he’s dangerous.

He wrapped it up with a fine individual effort when he twisted and turned a defender out of his socks before scoring at the near post (shite keeper again). I’m made up for Ox because he’s barely had a kick this season. When he has played he’s not been great but at the same time it’s really fucking hard to show any form when you hardly get any minutes.

It’s the same for Shaq and Origi too. Giving them ten minutes here and there, and maybe one start every two months, it’s just not conducive to showing any kind of form.

Ox has barely had a sniff all season and it’s not even really through any fault of his own. You’d think the injury crisis would have given squad players more opportunity but in fact it worked the opposite way as Klopp rotated less and less because he needed continuity more than anything.

Personally I’d consider playing Ox in midfield against Palace just because he brings something different and can score goals. I don’t trust the front three to deliver the goals we need so having someone else who could chip in can’t hurt. Having said that, I'd be more likely to go with Big Games James starting alongside Thiago and Fab, with Ox coming off the bench if needed.

I didn’t say anything about this beforehand as I didn’t want to tempt fate, but the Burnley game was not the one that worried me. I’m not saying I knew we’d win because I was never that bullish, but I suspected we would and that it might even be by a few goals. The Palace game has been the one I’ve been most concerned about, just because of the omens.

They were the last team to beat us at Anfield in front of fans, it’s Hodgson’s last game, Benteke is suddenly scoring again.. Then there’s the other thing. Us beating them 7-0 earlier in the season and what happened in 1990 after we beat them 9-0. There’s just a lot of things that make me uneasy. 

But we’re so close now. Just one more win and we can forget all about this shitshow of a campaign (not just for us, the whole season has been a fucking chore and should have a huge asterisk next to everything) and look ahead to next year when some kind of normality will have been restored. 

I said not so long ago that while I obviously wanted us to make the top four, it wasn’t something I could get fired up about. Turns out I was talking shite. I’ve been fully invested in these last few games and I’m desperate for us to finish the job on Sunday. If we don’t it will be devastating now.

It’s mostly about making the Champions League (and just as importanly, avoiding the Europa) but when I stop and think about it, it’s not just that. It’s also about just wanting us to finish as high as we can. I’ll settle for us just beating Palace and getting fourth but ideally I want Chelsea to lose so we get third, and I want the Mancs to lose so we finish the season only two points back from them.

I won’t lose any sleep if those ‘extras’ don’t happen but the fact I even care about it surprises me given how I’ve felt for months. Given everything Klopp and the squad have had to deal with, finishing fourth would be a creditable achievement. Finishing third would be almost miraculous.

I’m not going on Sunday because I have no interest in going back until it’s full, or at least close to it. I understand why others feel differently and are just desperate to get back inside to cheer the lads on, and I’m buzzing for anyone who has a ticket.

It’s just not something I have any interest in and when I go back to Anfield I want it to feel like it did before. I can’t wait for that, but it’s going to be nice just seeing some fans in there on Sunday. I didn’t go to the Spurs game for the same reason but it was class seeing the fans in there and I’m sure Sunday will be the same.

Tell you what though, as great as it is to have fans back, how shit were Burnley’s? Fucking hell. I didn’t actually hear a single song or chant from them, only boos. They booed Mané all game. They booed any time one of our lads were hurt. They booed any time a decision went against them. That’s all they did, booooooooooo. Even Everton sing sporadically in between boos. There was a better atmosphere when Sky were just playing the fake noise. At least there were some songs in that.

I picked up on it while I was watching it live, but even on the MOTD highlights the only crowd noise you hear is booing. There’s usually a good atmosphere at Burnley too, so I can only assume the fans they let in don’t actually know any songs or were just out of practice. There wasn’t even a “Come on Burnley” chant, or if there was I didn’t hear it. Awful support.

Anyway, I’m sure Sunday will be the polar opposite to that. It might be like the Auxerre game back in the day when a half empty Anfield produced one of the greatest atmospheres. 

Star man is Phillips even though Thiago was the best player on the pitch again. Nat scored and he cleared one off the line so he was the star of the show. Thiago, Trent and Mo were all very good again and Sadio at least made some sort of impact and contributed, which is encouraging. 

As I keep saying though Nat isn’t supposed to be doing this. We don’t have any right to expect this kind of thing from him, or Williams for that matter. They aren’t perfect, they’ll make some mistakes, but fuck me they’ve basically performed miracles and because of them (and Kabak too, he deserves a mention) we’ve somehow found ourselves in fourth place.

Now we just need one more win to stay there.

Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Phillips, R Williams, Robertson; Fabinho, Wijnaldum (Milner), Thiago; Salah, Firmino (Oxlade-Chamberlain), Mané (Tsimikas):