For the first time this season, Liverpool were on the losing end in the Premier League on Saturday.

Their 3-0 defeat against Watford was not a close affair either. The Reds may have managed 71% possession, but had just one shot on target to their opponents’ five. After the match, few could have argued that Nigel Pearson’s side didn’t deserve their victory.

In the grand scheme of things, this does little to alter the course of this year’s title. Liverpool are still 22 points clear at the top of the table, and need just four more wins to secure their status as champions. This loss, though, does prevent them from going the season unbeaten, which looked well on the cards after they had won 26 of their first 27 games, drawing the other one.

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Whilst they have been incredibly difficult to beat this term, there have been some issues defensively. In the first 15 matches of the campaign, they were able to keep just two clean sheets – and that was with the presence of the mighty Virgil van Dijk at centre-back, arguably the best defender in the world after coming second only to Lionel Messi in the race for the Ballon d’Or.

It was only when £31.5m-valued Joe Gomez – as per Transfermarkt – came into the side that there was an upturn in the Reds’ defensive performance. In 11 games with the England international alongside the 28-year-old, Klopp’s side kept nine clean sheets, conceding on just two occasions – they won every single game in the league in the process as well.

However, the former Charlton man was missing at Vicarage Road, meaning that Dejan Lovren came into the team to replace him. The Croatian has been out of the action for a while, with this being his first league appearance of the year. It is no coincidence that Gomez’s absence led to the Reds conceding three goals for the first time this season in the competition.

Van Dijk may be arguably seen as Liverpool’s key defensive component, and there is no doubting that he is a wonderful player in that position. But the results show that Gomez arguably deserves to be placed on the pedestal with him, if not slightly above.

His absence was felt dearly this weekend and, with Atletico Madrid to come in the Champions League next week, Klopp must be crossing his fingers that the 23-year-old returns as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, this Liverpool target with “incredible technique” has received rave reviews.