Kasper Schmeichel produced the game’s other key moment when he saved a 15th-minute Mohamed Salah penalty.
The Dane made further superb stops as the evening progressed and Leicester – missing several regulars including Ricardo Pereira, Çağlar Söyüncü, Harvey Barnes and Patson Daka – were forced to soak up significant pressure in order to earn only their third league win in nine matches.
Story of the match
The Reds’ purposeful start earned them a penalty shortly before the quarter-hour mark when Salah was tripped in the box by Wilfred Ndidi.
Salah – who’d converted his previous 15 consecutive Premier League spot kicks – struck this one firmly enough but at a decent height for Schmeichel, who got down to his right well to keep it out before the Egyptian headed the rebound against the bar.
The Foxes almost succeeded in springing a break from there but Sadio Mané covered well in the left-back slot to halt the advance.
Back came Liverpool. They were squeezing their hosts consistently now and one of their several advances soon saw Salah force another excellent stop out of Schmeichel.
In the 32nd minute, the ball fell to the 29-year-old to the right of the six-yard box and he swivelled and shot left-footed but the goalkeeper somehow clawed the effort over.
As if additionally determined to capitalise on Schmeichel’s latest heroics, Leicester stepped it up.
Jamie Vardy combined cleverly with Timothy Castagne to get into the box three minutes later but saw his effort well blocked by Joël Matip.
Soon after, James Maddison found himself face to face with Alisson Becker at a tight angle and his cross-shot was poked away by Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Jordan Henderson and Diogo Jota both volleyed narrowly off-target at the other end in the half’s closing moments.
There were signs of the Leicester threat six minutes after the restart when Kostas Tsimikas had to stretch to divert Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s delivery away from Vardy but the lead should really have been the visitors’ in the 55th minute.
An incisive move ended with Jota sliding Mané through and the Senegalese wrong-footed Schmeichel with his finish but sent it just over the bar.
Lookman was introduced alongside Youri Tielemans moments later and, come the 59th minute, he’d produced the decisive moment.
Another Dewsbury-Hall advance down the left was followed by the midfielder sliding the ball into the Leipzig loanee’s feet in the box and, after working an angle to shoot, he rifled a powerful right-footed effort in at the near-post.
It was a brilliantly efficient sucker-punch, but not one that could be viewed as completely unforeseen.
Klopp’s men continued to push in typically relentless fashion, but that dash of incision rarely materialised.
Inside the final 10 minutes of normal time, Jota nodded a Tsimikas corner wide, Virgil van Dijk saw a left-footed attempt kept out by the excellent Schmeichel and Mané flicked another Tsimikas delivery beyond the left-hand post.
The hosts held out well, significantly limiting the quality of their opponents’ openings. Something that was all the more impressive given they had only left the Etihad Stadium pitch – following a 6-3 defeat – 51 hours or so prior to kick-off.
The Merseysiders will, needless to say, be highly disappointed with this outcome – especially considering the swift nature of the East Midlanders’ turnaround. They now sit six points behind leaders Manchester City and are only ahead of third-placed Chelsea – their next opponents – on goal difference.
There was plenty of good about this performance. They pinned their hosts back for sustained spells but they didn’t combine that dominance with quality chances enough and, too often, moments of sloppiness brought otherwise promising moves to a close.
They’ll be aiming to offer a significantly sharper edge at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Much credit has to go to Leicester, though. Schmeichel was a brilliant last line of defence when needed but, on the whole, this felt a gameplan superbly executed.