Liverpool eased to a 2-0 victory over Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium on Saturday in their penultimate UK friendly before flying to the USA, making it three wins on the bounce in -reseason.

Philippe Coutinho made his first start of pre-season after resuming training last week, whilst Marko Grujic, Brad Smith and Alberto Moreno were all sidelined through illness or injury.

Reds dominant throughout

It was Coutinho who almost made the earliest of impacts, striking the post with a nicely worked free-kick, sending the 'keeper the wrong way, only for the woodwork to deny him.

Roberto Firmino, again starting a pre-season fixture as the lone striker, showed some delightful touches early on, troubling the Wigan defence with his Brazilian flair. Taking the ball on the right hand side, he skipped past a defender before flashing a low ball across the area, well dealt with by Jason Pearce as Cameron Brannagan lurked.

He had a huge part to play minutes later, as Coutinho hit the woodwork again. Firmino stood a cross up to the back post where his countryman was waiting, turning past one man before hammering a left-footed shot onto the post.

Having sought a set-piece taker for much of last season, Branngan does seem to be establishing himself as the main free-kick taker when he's on the pitch at least, the youngster swinging one in nicely for Joel Matip, who headed just over.

There was one moment of panic for the Reds in the first half, a sloppy touch from Loris Karius as he looked to control a Matip pass was allowed to run across the area, nearly presenting Sanmi Odelusi with an open goal, only for the German 'keeper to scramble across his goal and save.

Coutinho lit the DW Stadium up with some skill towards the end of the first half, burning past one man before using a roulette to skip past another, the ball breaking to Mane, unable to finish as Lee Nicholls made a save.

Unfortunately for spectators, the game lulled somewhat following the interval, with a flurry of substitutions from the Reds breaking up the flow of their play somewhat. 

Ings and Woodburn on the scoresheet

However, the deadlock was finally broken with around 20 minutes to go, Danny Ings the scorer, his second in three games. A sloppy pass in midfield was intercepted by Lazar Markovic, who led the counter, clipping the ball across to Ings who finished well from close range.

Ings opened the scoring (photo: Reuters)
Ings opened the scoring (photo: Reuters)

Having finally got their goal, it took Klopp's side no less than four minutes to bag another, 16-year-old Ben Woodburn continuing to excel with another goal. Ryan Kent turned nicely in the midfield, threading through Woodburn who finished with calmness and precision.

One late worry for Liverpool was that centre-back Joel Matip had to limp off with an ankle injury, likely to be assessed ahead of Wednesday's friendly against Huddersfield Town.

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