ReactionTrent Alexander-Arnold on Fulham winner: 'It was a very proud moment for me'
Trent Alexander-Arnold said his winning strike against Fulham at Anfield on Sunday was a 'very proud moment' after Liverpool produced a stunning late Premier League victory.
Jürgen Klopp's men claimed a 4-3 win over the visitors with two goals in two minutes at the end of the contest to turn the match in their favour.
Alexander-Arnold’s free-kick had gone in via Bernd Leno’s back to open the scoring in L4, which came ahead of Harry Wilson’s leveller, before a stunning goal from Alexis Mac Allister put the Reds back in front.
Kenny Tete equalised on the stroke of half-time and Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s late header edged Fulham ahead 10 minutes from time.
But Liverpool substitute Wataru Endo and Alexander-Arnold found the back of the net late on to clinch the points at a jubilant Anfield.
Read on to see what the No.66 had to say to Liverpoolfc.com on the topsy-turvy encounter…
On if he could pick one word to sum up the win...
I don’t know if I could sum it up in one word. [I’m] just delighted really. It’s big. We needed the three points obviously. With Arsenal getting the result yesterday, we just needed to try to stay in touching distance. This time of year is important, the games come thick and fast and if you can pick up momentum and get through the Christmas [and] January period with a lot of wins then you come out and go into February and March in a good position, so this isn’t the right time to be dropping any points, especially at home. It was a very proud moment for me and a good finish as well, to be fair.
On the competition with Dominik Szoboszlai for free-kicks...
In fairness, he knows that’s my preferred side. I prefer going that side and using the wall as a guide to get round, but it was a little bit outside the goal frame. It was just get it on target, see what I can do and that’s what I did. I’ve been told it’s been chalked off as an own goal now so I’m a bit gutted. It was a good strike of the ball and good to be involved in the goal in any way I can.
On Mac Allister’s stunning goal...
It’s one of them. I’m playing the game thinking there’s no way I can’t get goal of the game and I’m half thinking I could get Goal of the Month here already just going into December! Then 20 minutes later Macca has laced one into the top bin like that. I’m thinking, ‘What is going on here?!’ It was an outstanding strike. [I had] a great view of it. I was kind of in line with him and just seeing the shape of the ball you could see as soon as he hit it, it was a good chance [of going in]. Yeah, an outstanding strike and I’m sure there will be different angles. I remember turning around and me, Joel and Virg had the same reaction, we were just gobsmacked. [We] didn’t even really go celebrate [because it was] just pure shock. It was an outstanding strike and very good for him to get his goal.
On the disappointment in the goals conceded...
Yeah, especially at home at Anfield. We need to be putting games away. I think we had the opportunities and we controlled the game in the first half. We’d done enough to be able to control the game but just sloppy goals to be giving away. All three of them [are] not great and we got punished for our sloppiness at the end of the day. They deserved to score the goals. You can’t take that away. It wasn’t about luck. They took advantage when we weren’t at our best. So, fair play, but it was important to get the three points.
On Endo’s late leveller...
It was an outstanding finish. I had a good view of that as well just behind him. There was great shape on it, [he] just guided it into the net. That’s probably a side of his game that people don’t really expect. We see him as kind of a... ball-winner, get it back, keep it simple, but he’s got a great technique. [He’s] an outstanding lad, an outstanding professional to the game and he added so much to our game when he came on. It was an outstanding performance and I think he was a real game-changer for us.
On his winning strike...
It was just backing up the play, seeing Cody strike it then Darwin getting the rebound and kind of watching it go to the back post and seeing that Kostas was going to have a challenge and kind of just positioning myself for if Kostas did lose that header, which he did, then as the ball is coming in the air, I’m thinking, ‘Do I get close to it and chest it?’ But I thought I had a bit more time. [My] first touch wasn’t great at all. It was a little bit behind me but I thought with the body shape and bodies between the ball and the goal just to use that to the advantage and just try to reverse it into the corner of the goal. I was able to do that and you can see by the celebration how much it meant.
On the wild celebrations at the end...
I’ve got a big cut on my knee so I didn’t want to risk reopening that with a knee slide even though I was dying to do it! When I’m running at that speed I just thought I need to do something. I couldn’t just keep running so I thought just get on my belly, it’s the safest thing to do! You can see the emotion in it, how much it meant to the lads and the team and the fans as well. It was an outstanding end to the game for us.
On the character the team showed in the win...
Of course it can’t [always be perfect]. You’ve got to dig deep and find a way to get results. As much as you want to play well and win by three or four and have it plain sailing and cruise through a game, that’s never really the case. Sometimes you’ve got to win in different ways. Although we didn’t play particularly well, we dug deep and we had our moments and we took our chances. There’s a lot for us to learn but the most important thing in football is it’s a results game and it’s a results business and three points is up for grabs and that’s our aim in every game we go into. It’s vitally important for us to get that today.