Liverpool supervisor Arne Slot praised a “particular” contribution from Mohamed Salah after his two objectives helped the crew recuperate from a objective all the way down to beat Southampton 3-2 and transfer eight factors clear on the high of the Premier League.
The league leaders had been heading for a shock defeat to the division’s backside aspect when midfielder Mateus Fernandes swept Saints in entrance within the 56th minute, however Salah was readily available to show the sport round.
First he beat goalkeeper Alex McCarthy to a by way of ball from Ryan Gravenberch, then 10 minutes from time blasted the ball into the highest nook from the penalty spot following a useless handball by Yukinari Sugawara.
Dominik Szoboszlai had taken benefit of horrible Southampton defending halfway by way of the primary half to twist his aspect into the lead, however a penalty tucked dwelling on the rebound by Adam Armstrong levelled issues earlier than the break to arrange a topsy-turvy second half.
Finally a telling intervention from Salah settled a blistering encounter.
“We all the time know we will belief him when issues are troublesome for us,” mentioned Slot. “After we went 2-1 down I didn’t actually really feel that that was the second we might rating.
“It was a unbelievable cross from Ryan Gravenberch, however the timing of the run and the end was particular.
“That actually helped us again within the sport, and we would have liked that objective to play the final 25 minutes that we performed, as a result of for me then it was solely a matter of time till we scored.”
Liverpool have received 10 of their first 12 Premier League video games beneath Slot making him simply the third supervisor within the competitors’s historical past to attain that feat, after Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti.
Will probably be remembered as one of many extra hard-fought victories of his early tenure as Saints defied their predicament on the foot of the desk to show in a dedicated and at instances ferocious efficiency.
“We’re actually glad, particularly as a result of after an hour we had been 2-1 down and perhaps that wasn’t a mirrored image of how the primary hour went,” mentioned Slot.
“I feel we dominated the entire sport, which isn’t that simple.
“I’ve seen many Southampton video games the place they’ve dominated the sport. However when you’re 2-1 down after an hour you’re perhaps over the moon when you win 3-2.
“We all know what we have now to place into it to get the [eight-point] lead we have now in the meanwhile and to get these wins.
“There have been one or two video games that had been wins by a giant margin however the remainder had been small margins, so we all know how troublesome it’s to win a sport.”
As so usually this season, Southampton set the traps for their very own downfall.
Three objectives conceded, all of them ultimately attributable to particular person errors in defence, although this was all of the tougher to bear for supervisor Russell Martin given how determinedly his crew had labored to get themselves in entrance.
“My overriding feeling is the frustration and disappointment of the objectives we conceded, it’s simply so poor,” mentioned Martin.
“If [Liverpool] produce a second of magic or rating an excellent crew objective you’ll be able to perhaps settle for it, however the high quality of the objectives we conceded is so dangerous. So dangerous.
“There was a lot I loved in regards to the efficiency, the menace was a lot better within the remaining third and the attacking menace we had.
“However we would have liked to take the sting out of the sport and handle it.”
