Liverpool 3-0 Southampton: Mohamed Salah and Philippe Coutinho steer Reds past Saints

Liverpool turned on the style against Southampton as Mohamed Salah and Philippe Coutinho steered the hosts to a 3-0 win at Anfield.

Salah broke the deadlock with a delightful curled effort (31) before latching onto Coutinho’s majestic assist to score his second 10 minutes later, which sees the Egypt international top the Premier League goalscoring charts with nine.

Coutinho got the goal his performance deserved after the break, pouncing on the rebound to seal a comfortable victory for the hosts.

The result sees Liverpool maintain their unbeaten start to the season at home, while the Saints slip further down the table, having won just one of their last seven games.

Liverpool were slow out the blocks at Anfield, but got going midway through the first half, with Georginio Wijnaldum and Coutinho both testing Fraser Forster.

The hosts then went ahead after Tadic was dispossessed on the edge of his own area by Roberto Firmino, with Wijnaldum going on to find Salah, who curled an effort beyond the helpless Forster.

Salah's ninth league goal of the season - which saw him eclipse Robbie Fowler's record of eight in his first 12 Premier League games for the club - came 10 minutes later, as he beat the offside trap to slot the ball past Forster following Coutinho's incisive pass with the outside of his foot.

After the break, Liverpool continued to dominate, with Firmino seeing his attempt saved before Coutinho sent an effort whistling past the post.

The Brazil international was not, to be denied however, and got himself on the scoresheet after Firmino's effort cannoned off the chest of Forster and fell perfectly for the midfielder to latch on to.

Firmino came close once again, but Liverpool took their foot off the gas against a hapless Southampton side, who failed to test Simon Mignolet all afternoon.

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• Liverpool have won three consecutive Premier League games for the first time in 2017, having last done so in December 2016 (a run of four wins).
• This was Jurgen Klopp's first victory over Southampton in the Premier League (W1 D3 L1), meaning he has now won against 21 of the 23 teams he has faced in the competition - only against Manchester United (4) and Newcastle United (3) has he failed to win.
• Mohamed Salah has scored 14 goals in all competitions for Liverpool in 2017/18; the most of any Premier League player.
• Salah has netted nine goals in the Premier League this term; the most by any Liverpool player in their first 12 appearances in the competition.

Man of the match - Mohamed Salah

Liverpool failed to score against Southampton in four games last season, twice in the Premier League, and on another two occasions in the League Cup. However, the Reds did not have Salah at their disposal.

The Egyptian continues to flourish at Anfield, and his 14 goals in all competitions is more than any other Premier League player this season.

We will start to run out of superlatives if he continues in this vein, but it was quite simply a sensational performance from Salah which put Southampton to the sword.

The mangers

Jurgen Klopp: "It was a difficult game. We had more chances but it was an open game. It was clear we needed to be patient in a lively way. The first goal, I had nothing to do with, and the second - a fantastic pass.

"That's Mo's biggest strength, to run into these areas without being offside, I don't know how it's possible. But the runs are fantastic. We forced the third goal and could have had more. It was the perfect day for us."

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Manuel Pellegrino: "After conceding the second goal it was difficult for us to get back into the game. We made a couple of mistakes which you cannot do against this kind of team.

"In the second half, it was even more difficult. We started well, but we never created many chances to score.

"With the first goal, we knew Liverpool would be aggressive, but after losing it in the final third, maybe we can improve this in the next few games.

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What's next?

Liverpool head to Spain in midweek for a Champions League clash against Sevilla on Tuesday, before hosting Chelsea in next Saturday's late kick-off in the Premier League. Southampton host Everton next weekend on Nissan Super Sunday, with the game underway at 1.30pm on Sky Sports Premier League.

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