Arne Slot must make crucial decision as Liverpool suffer damaging draw vs Burnley

 Liverpool were held 1-1 by Burnley at Anfield in a damaging draw for Arne Slot's side.

Liverpool looked to be climbing back into the top four in routine fashion and claim all three points after Florian Wirtz gave the hosts the lead in a first-half they dominated. But Burnley frustrated a wasteful Liverpool side.

Arne Slot didn’t pull any surprises in his line-up as Hugo Ekitike returned to the starting line-up after making his return from a knock against Barnsley in the FA Cup on Monday. While Jeremie Frimpong dropped back to right-back in Conor Bradley’s injury absence as Curtis Jones came in for Alexis Mac Allister.

Following Manchester United’s statement derby day win over Manchester City at lunchtime, Liverpool knew they had to pick up a result to climb back above their rivals and Burnley appeared to be the ideal opponent given their struggles.

And that looked to be the case in a dominant first-half by the hosts, who could have opened the scoring when they were awarded a penalty shortly after the half-hour mark.

But Dominik Szoboszlai stepped up and smashed his effort against the crossbar. The Hungarian's side of choice from his penalties has been well documented, and Szoboszlai again went to Martin Dubravka's right, but the goalkeeper wasn't called into action as he dived the correct way.

However, any nerves that the hosts would not convert their dominance into a lead at half-time vanished when Florian Wirtz whipped an effort into the top corner. Great work from Hugo Ekitike down the left created the opportunity before the ball fell back to the German who took aim and avoided a goal line packed with Burnley defenders.

It looked as though the game would go on to be a procession but Scott Parker's side rallied at half-time and equalised just minutes after Alisson spared Ibrahima Konate's blushes as the Frenchman almost scored an own goal.

But Liverpool wouldn't be so lucky again as Marcus Edwards spun away from Konate to drive a powerful, low effort into the far bottom corner.

Konate has looked more assured in recent weeks but the centre-back was not close enough to Edwards and was punished.

The 26-year-old's future remains up in the air with his contract expiring at the end of the season. However, it appeared not to be a major issue for the Reds with Marc Guehi long linked with an Anfield switch, but the England international is now set to join a Premier League rival.

After a summer deadline day move to Liverpool broke down at the 11th hour, Manchester City moved to beat the Reds to his signature as a £30million January move is being finalised.

Guehi looked set to be a brilliant replacement for Konate to partner Virgil van Dijk, but Slot will have to pursue other targets in what is becoming a problem position that the Reds must resolve this summer.

Liverpool chased a winner and saw a goal disallowed in the 77th minute after Ekitike smashed the ball into the back of the net from an offside position. But they were unable to force a winner.

The Reds do return to fourth in the table, but it's certainly two points dropped at Anfield.