WITH bare bones and big balls, Liverpool are crawling towards Wembley to complete the first leg of Jurgen Klopp’s farewell quadruple bid.

After trailing Luton for the second time this season, the injury-battered Premier League leaders roared back to secure a convincing win with second-half strikes from Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo, Luis Diaz and Harvey Elliott.

Virgil van Dijk celebrates Liverpool’s equaliser

Cody Gakpo gave Liverpool the lead

Klopp’s men have now secured a remarkable 22 points from losing positions in 26 Premier League fixtures this season and they lead Manchester City by four points at the summit.

The majority of Klopp’s subs were teenagers as the strain of challenging on four fronts began to show.

The Reds started well enough, pinning Luton back, as Diaz curled a shot narrowly wide and Gakpo sent an overhead kick straight at Thomas Kaminski.

But Luton were beginning to fancy their chances even before their early opener, with Alfie Doughty driving wide across goal from a Tahith Chong pass.

Then, on 12 minutes, the Hatters opened the scoring against Liverpool for the second time this season.

A Chong shot was saved by Caoimhin Kelleher at his near post but looped up for Ogbene to score with a soaring header, stunning The Kop into pin-drop silence.

Chiedozie Ogbene had fired Luton into the lead

It was the 12th Premier League match out of 26 in which Liverpool had fallen behind this season.

Normally, Klopp has the strength in depth to turn a match from the bench when needed but this time his options were thin.

On the half hour, Diaz stretched to scuff a volley wide from Wataru Endo’s scooped pass.

It was becoming frustrating for Liverpool. Kelleher was resorting to long balls, Jarrell Quansah was attempting to initiate attacks and the Hatters were on top in midfield.

Elliott was having a terrible game on his 100th game for Klopp’s team, overhitting passes and ballooning shots.

The most impressive midfield player on the field in the first half was Ross Barkley, a former Everton player, and referee Andy Madley was irking the locals by not giving them every 50/50 call as they were used to.

Wing-back Luton deserved to lead at halftime, as Ogbene posed a constant threat on the right.

“Conference champions, you’ll never sing that,” chanted the Hatters fans, glorying in their unique climb from non-league to the Premier League and relishing their big night out at one of English football’s great cathedrals.

But then it all changed as Liverpool, attacking The Kop, launched a ferocious wave of attacks.

Diaz twice had close-range shots blocked, by Teden Mengi and Amari’i Bell – the latter surviving a VAR check for handball as he did so.

Then Kaminski made a brilliant stop at his near post to deny Gakpo after a defensive slip by Chong.

But from the resulting corner, Liverpool were level. Alexis Mac Allister swung in the centre and Van Dijk held off Ogbene and timed his running perfectly, stooping to thud home a header.

Suddenly the pressure on the Luton defence was irresistible and soon, Klopp’s side were in front.

Kaminski had stuck out a foot to deny Conor Bradley but the Northern Irish full-back was soon producing the throw-in from which Mac Allister delivered a powerful first-time cross for Gakpo to nod past the keeper.

Cody Gakpo completed the Reds’ turnaround 

The Luton keeper was seriously busy now, denying Gakpo with his feet, then making a sprawling save to keep out another Van Dijk header.

The third arrived on 71 minutes, sub Andy Robertson winning possession high up the field and feeding Diaz, who drove past Kaminski to seal the deal.

Luis Diaz nets Liverpool’s third

Elliott hammered the fourth in the 90th minute after an impressive work from Jayden Danns, making his Premier League debut as a sub.

However many players they lose, Liverpool keep finding more good ones.

And however many times they fall behind, they keep finding a way to win.

Harvey Elliott made it 4-1 to the Reds late on