Trust Sam Allardyce.
Few managers count Anfield as a happy hunting ground, but the West Brom boss certainly does.
And yet again he performed the role of party pooper on Merseyside on Sunday evening, with his side denying Liverpool the chance to go five points clear at the top of the Premier League with this most unlikely of 1-1 draws.
You’d have got long odds on such a result at half-time, so one-sided were the opening 45 minutes. However, Liverpool failed to build on Sadio Mane’s opener, losing their way badly after the break, and Semi Ajayi’s towering late header sent the Baggies home happy.
Allardyce has now avoided defeat on each of his last four visits here, each of them with different clubs. He remains the last visiting manager to win at Anfield in the league, doing so with Crystal Palace in April 2017.
This, to be honest, was a bigger achievement. There looked to be no chance for Albion as Liverpool dominated the first half but Allardyce’s plan to pilfer a point came to fruition as the game wore on. They’ll feel they deserved their reward. In truth, from inside the stadium it felt like it was coming.
Klopp’s side, who had seen Manchester United and Leicester and Chelsea stumble on Boxing Day, can have no complaints after squandering two points themselves. They are not used to performances like this. Not at home, not against such limited opposition. "It's our fault," said Klopp afterwards, though there was a pointed dig at West Brom's "4-6-0" formation from the German.
This was a flashback to a different time. To 2017, when a deep-lying defence was the Reds’ kryptonite. They’d moved past those issues, or so we thought.
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West Brom came, as we knew they would, to frustrate, to dig in and to deny. The ball was unimportant, staying in the game was. Romaine Sawyers was the Baggies' most prolific passer in the first 45 minutes. He completed eight.
Liverpool finished the first half having had 82 per cent possession but only one shot on target. Mane provided it, a piece of sublime control and a deadly finish firing his side ahead inside 12 minutes. “Impossible to defend,” Klopp said of the Senegalese star recently, and here we had Exhibit A. Some goal.
It was exactly what Liverpool needed, an early goal to break open the game. That’s what's required against a parked bus, isn’t it?
But as Albion remained dogged and determined, rarely venturing outside their own penalty area for long periods, Liverpool’s focus wandered. Driven to distraction, perhaps? A touch of complacency, maybe? Either way, they lost their way.
Honest as ever, Andy Robertson told Sky Sports afterwards, "When you go slack, you get what you deserve." That’s exactly what Liverpool did, they went slack.
And eventually they were punished.
Their second half was bafflingly poor, a litany of hopeful crosses, loose touches and aimless possession, interspersed with increasingly-dangerous counters from West Brom, who grew visibly as the minutes ticked by.
Liverpool lost Joel Matip to injury, and could muster only one more effort on target, with Sam Johnstone superbly saving Roberto Firmino’s late header.
By that point, Albion were level, their equalising goal indicative of the home side’s sloppiness. Curtis Jones took too long on the ball in his own half, forcing Rhys Williams, Matip’s replacement, to concede a corner from which Ajayi rose highest to head past Alisson Becker.
Typical Allardyce, you could say. Came for a point, got a point, made a point.
He loves upsetting the establishment, does Big Sam. And here, he provided Liverpool with a pig of a Christmas hangover.