Salah seals comeback win for Liverpool towards Southampton to stretch lead

There was a lot to encourage and concern Arne Slot – and Paris Saint-Germain for that matter – because the Liverpool head coach appeared down from the Anfield administrators’ field on one other victorious step in the direction of the Premier League title. The leaders toiled towards Southampton till a triple half-time substitution ignited the spark that resulted in a 16-point lead on the summit. PSG will not be so forgiving.

Two Mohamed Salah penalties secured Liverpool victory after Darwin Núñez had cancelled out Will Smallbone’s opener for the Ivan Juric’s struggling facet. The outcome had appeared a forgone conclusion earlier than kick off, it ended up one too, but this was a struggle for Liverpool as they equipped for Tuesday’s Champions League return towards Luis Enrique’s facet.

Slot had labelled Southampton’s go to as the primary of three finals in an try to awaken Liverpool’s gamers and followers into one other necessary step in the direction of the title. He obtained nothing of the sort within the first half. The league leaders had been torpid, sloppy and predictable. The league’s backside membership grew in confidence and menace after surviving an early spell of strain through which Curtis Jones had a shot blocked and dragged one other vast.

For a workforce minimize adrift on the foot of the desk, Southampton’s defensive trade was massively spectacular. Our bodies had been repeatedly placed on the road to dam Liverpool makes an attempt and even the lack of the captain Jan Bednarek after a conflict of heads with Ryan Manning induced minimal disruption earlier than the break. Tyler Dibling, Mateus Fernandes and Kamaldeen Sulemana steadily added composure on the ball to the visiting efficiency to depart Slot wanting apprehensive within the administrators’ field as he served the ultimate sport of his touchline ban.

The Liverpool head coach had his head in his palms when a calamitous mix-up gifted Southampton the lead in first-half stoppage time. That Virgil van Dijk and the hero of Paris, Alisson, had been concerned heightened the sense of unease inside Anfield. The Liverpool captain tried to shepherd a Manning throw-in again to his goalkeeper however Alisson, thrown off stability by a Fernandes problem, failed to gather. The ball squirmed unfastened to Smallbone who squeezed a low shot by the Brazilian’s legs and in from a decent angle.

Liverpool may have been in a worse place earlier than the half-time whistle blew. The video assistant referee checked a attainable crimson card offence by Núñez, who was booked for taking a swipe at Kyle Walker-Peters because the full-back surged previous him. Núñez made no try to play the ball and was booked by new Premier League referee Lewis Smith. VAR caught with the on-field resolution.

A triple substitution on the interval by Slot mentioned every part about Liverpool’s efficiency to that time. In reality, his choice appeared unusual from the beginning with solely Andy Robertson, Alexis Mac Allister and Diogo Jota rested from the workforce that began at Parc des Princes on Wednesday. There was no reward of a primary league begin of the season for Harvey Elliott, though he was among the many second-half replacements for Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones and Kostas Tsimikas. The impression was rapid.

Elliott nearly repeated his efficiency towards PSG by scoring inside seconds of his arrival. Aaron Ramsdale, who saved properly from Trent Alexander-Arnold however was comparatively untroubled within the first half, turned the 21-year-old’s angled drive vast of the far put up. There was a sharpness and aggression to Liverpool that had been absent previous to the adjustments. Now Slot witnessed the depth he had referred to as for.

Liverpool swiftly drew degree thanks, nearly inevitably from a Southampton perspective, to Núñez. The transfer was instigated by one of many half-time substitutes, Robertson, who discovered Luis Díaz hugging the left touchline. Díaz darted previous Walker-Peters to the by-line and centred for the Uruguay worldwide to beat Armel Bella-Kotchap to the cross and convert on the close to put up.

The sport was turned utterly on its head three minutes later when Núñez went down below a problem from Smallbone as Southampton struggled to clear following a Ramsdale save from Díaz. Smith instantly pointed to the spot, VAR backed his resolution, and Salah swept an unstoppable penalty into Ramsdale’s proper hand nook. The 242^nd purpose of Salah’s Liverpool profession moved him to outright third within the membership’s all-time goalscorers’ record.

One other gentle penalty, conceded by the substitute Yukinari Sugawara who was adjudged to have dealt with in a tussle with Díaz, introduced Salah with a chance to go joint-fifth on the all-time Premier League scorers’ chart alongside Sergio Agüero with 184. It was duly, emphatically drilled into Ramsdale’s prime left nook.