Author: Mujuni Henry
JUNIITV
SOUTHAMPTON, England, 🏴 – Premier League leaders Liverpool beat bottom side Southampton 3-2 on Sunday to build a sizeable eight-point lead over reigning champions Manchester City after Mohamed Salah led a second-half comeback for the visitors.
Liverpool were trailing 2-1 when Salah scored twice in the second half to take his season’s tally to 10 goals in the league, two behind the league’s top scorer Erling Haaland of City.
After City lost their third straight league game on Saturday, a 4-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool took full advantage and Arne Slot’s side now have 31 points from 12 games to City’s 23 ahead of their clash at Anfield next weekend.
“They were very important, especially after being down 2-1. It’s the most important thing to have won the game,” Salah told Sky Sports.
“Each game is different. They had a game plan and played very well. We managed to come back and win the game. I think we have a good game plan, we played our game and I was confident we would create chances.
“Man City is Man City. They have a bad time now but they have great players… We have a game against them so hopefully, we win it and go 11 points clear.”
Southampton shot themselves in the foot when they tried playing out from the back and under Liverpool pressure, Flynn Downes’s pass fell to Dominik Szoboszlai at the edge of the box and the unmarked midfielder fired home to make it 1-0.
“We had a couple of meetings before the game and we know they build-up from the back,” Szoboszlai added.
“Sometimes they do well, sometimes they make mistakes and that was the case here. We pressed really well and got the goal.”
SAINTS LIFELINE
However, Southampton received a lifeline minutes later when Andy Robertson tripped Tyler Dibling on the edge of the box and the referee pointed to the spot, with VAR upholding the decision even though the contact was made just outside the area.
Although Adam Armstrong had his spot kick saved by Caoimhin Kelleher, the forward pounced on the rebound to equalise with his third goal in four games for Southampton.
Saints turned things around 11 minutes into the second half from a sublime counter-attack when Dibling found Armstrong running into space and the forward spotted Mateus Fernandes making a run and the Portuguese midfielder made it 2-1.
That spurred Liverpool into action and after Darwin Nunez failed to find Luis Diaz at the far post for a simple tap-in, Salah took matters into his own hands.
Liverpool equalised through Salah when he ran through on goal on to a lob from Ryan Gravenberch and as he saw Alex McCarthy come off his line, the Egyptian winger took one touch to let the ball roll past the onrushing goalkeeper.
It marked the eighth time Southampton had committed an error leading to an opposition goal — more than any other Premier League team this season — as the home side squandered their advantage.
Southampton then conceded a penalty in the 83rd minute from a Yukinari Sugawara handball and Salah made no mistake from the spot as Liverpool sealed the three points.
“We’re really disappointed with the result. They’re really poor goals to give away. We’ve come up short again and it’s hard to take,”
Southampton’s Jack Stephens said with the club still bottom and five points from the safety zone.
“It’s frustrating to concede goals but a lot of our good play came from the situations as well. We’ll have to look at it back and evaluate everything, it’s about getting the balance a bit better.”
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