Liverpool 3-0 Maribor: Simple win for Reds

Jurgen Klopp's side are hardly charging towards their target - despite the 7-0 thrashing of the Slovenians a fortnight ago - and this match reflected their incremental progress in Group E.

Back-to-back wins over the Slovenians, courtesy of leading scorer Mohamed Salah's 10th of the season, a classy Emre Can goal and a late Daniel Sturridge strike, mean they lead Sevilla by a point and victory in Spain in three weeks' time will see the Reds qualify with a match to spare.

They could even afford another squandered missed penalty, a fourth in succession at Anfield, as James Milner missed his second in a row having scored his first 10 for the club.

Liverpool are odds-on at 8/13 with Sky Bet to win Group E. The Reds can be backed at 22/1 in the outright odds.

Sky Bet punters also celebrated an 80/1 RequestABet winner as the three Premier League sides in action on Wednesday night all won and 7+ match corners and under 40 booking points collected in all three games.

Post-match reaction

Emre Can was relieved to see Liverpool's patience pay off after three unanswered second-half goals secured victory against Maribor in the Champions League.

Can told BT Sport: "It wasn't easy against them but second half after the goal we did well, we found space and we just had to be patient.

"I'm happy that I could help the team (by scoring). It was good ball from Milly (Milner), I found space and put it in the corner.

"We could do it better but it's still early in the season. I think now we are in a good position in the Champions League and if we win the next two games we will carry on."

Trent Alexander-Arnold crossed for Salah to break the deadlock, and he said: "We noticed during the first half that most of our chances came from crosses so we kept doing it and it worked.

"It's always hard because their aim is to come and maybe get a point while we want three points and we have different objectives."

Jurgen Klopp is hoping the injury suffered by midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum is not too serious but admitted the early signs were not promising.

"Wijnaldum got an injury which I'm not sure about but his ankle is already swollen which is not a good sign," he said.

On the match, the Reds boss added: "It was a similar situation to the Huddersfield game - an even more defensive side.

"We did the same things wrong, wrong positions, not enough balls in behind. We didn't create enough, that may be the summary of it.

"They changed completely their usual style. The start was good, we had a few good moments. We had to adjust in the second half and the boys did really well and decided the game, that's it."

Maribor coach Darko Milanic said: "I am sure the decision for this kind of tactic was very good. We couldn't play any different way.

"The first half was a very good half defensively. The goal we conceded at the beginning of the second half gave our opponent additional energy.

"When the goalkeeper saved the penalty it gave us more energy but in the end I have to congratulate my boys for the very good match they played."