A bad match from Liverpool and poor set piece defending didn’t stop them from picking up a dramatic 3-2 victory over QPR thanks to two own goals, one brilliant finish from Philippe Coutinho and a great day between the goalposts for Simon Mignolet, despite conceding twice.

All the league knows Liverpool are terrible when it comes to defending crosses and set pieces, so QPR stuck to crossing and taking advantage of a very confused midfield for Liverpool, that got a lot better once Philippe Coutinho and Joe Allen joined the match, giving Liverpool some speed and attacking ability which up until that point was absent almost entirely from their performance.

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After some close calls in the first half, Liverpool survived, made their substitutions and after an incredible miss by Mario Balotelli, quick thinking from Raheem Sterling to execute a free kick resulted in a cross from Glen Johnson and a foolish own goal from Richard Dunne.

Liverpool kept on missing good opportunities as the selfish Mario Balotelli tried to shoot from difficult situations instead of passing to better positioned teammates, and eventually Liverpool conceded in the 87th minute from Eduardo Vargas, coming off the bench.

The end? Liverpool went out on an attack and Philippe Coutinho made a brilliant cut inside the penalty box to score and give Liverpool the lead in extra time. The end? QPR equalized on their next attack, as a corner kick allowed Vargas to make it a brace.

QPR had another free kick in the 93rd minute but Liverpool turned it into a counter attack. A brilliant through ball from Coutinho to Raheem Sterling resulted in another cross inside the box towards Mario Balotelli, but it hit Steven Caulker, giving Liverpool an incredible, and slightly undeserved win.

With the win, Liverpool climb to fifth place, nine points behind the first place and tied at 13 points with fourth. QPR fall back to the bottom place with a inferior goal difference compared to Burnley.