Southampton 1-3 Liverpool: Mo Salah scores as Liverpool go top of Premier League
Highlights and report as Mo Salah scores for the first time in eight games to help Liverpool back top by two points
By Gerard Brand at St Mary's
Saturday 6 April 2019 07:30, UK
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Southampton 1-3 Liverpool
Mo Salah ended his goal drought as Liverpool returned to the top of the Premier League with another late show in a 3-1 win at Southampton on Friday Night Football.
The result means Liverpool sit two points ahead of champions Manchester City, who have a game in hand with six remaining.
Salah, scoring his first in eight games, found the bottom right corner superbly on the break as Liverpool came from behind to lead 2-1 with 10 minutes remaining, before sub Jordan Henderson rounded off the win from close range six minutes later.
Southampton had stunned Liverpool early on as Shane Long scored from close range (9), only his second goal of the season, but the visitors levelled through Naby Keita's first goal for Liverpool, heading home Trent Alexander-Arnold's cross (36), though Salah was offside in the build-up.
Liverpool: Alisson (6), Alexander-Arnold (6), Matip (8), Van Dijk (6), Robertson (6), Fabinho (6), Keita (7), Wijnaldum (5), Mane (7), Firmino (7), Salah (8)
Subs: Henderson (8), Milner (7), Lovren (NA)
Man of the match: Mo Salah
Little went Liverpool's way early on as Long scored his first goal at St Mary's in 15 months, taking down Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's flick on from Ryan Bertrand's cross to fire past Alisson after Andrew Robertson had misjudged the flight of the ball.
Liverpool would have been level minutes later but for Angus Gunn's point-blank save from Sadio Mane's header, before Keita poked into the side-netting on the rebound.
The hosts should have been 2-0 up as Long failed to make a good connection with Bertrand's cross, before former Saints defender Virgil van Dijk, jeered throughout, deflected inches over his own crossbar.
Liverpool levelled with nine minutes of the half remaining as Keita ghosted in-between two defenders to force a header past Gunn from Alexander-Arnold's wicked delivery, though Salah was marginally offside from the initial pass that started the move.
Team news
Saints made two changes from the side that beat Brighton last weekend; Jannik Vestergaard and Shane Long replaced Danny Ings and Stuart Armstrong.
Fabinho and Naby Keita came in for James Milner and Jordan Henderson as Liverpool made two changes from the win over Tottenham, with Virgil van Dijk recovering from a slight ankle knock.
Liverpool had a big appeal for a penalty turned down after the break as Keita went down following Maya Yoshida's slide tackle, but Paul Tierney waved play on. There was slight contact, but Keita looked to be falling beforehand.
Liverpool, who left it until the 90th minute to beat Tottenham last weekend, completed the turnaround slightly earlier this time. Breaking from a Southampton corner, Henderson fed Salah as Liverpool broke two versus one, but instead of passing to Roberto Firmino to his left, the Egyptian expertly found the bottom corner from 18 yards.
Salah has now scored 50 goals in just 69 appearances for Liverpool in the Premier League; only Alan Shearer (66 - Blackburn) and Ruud van Nistelrooy (68 - Man Utd) reached the milestone in fewer apps for a single club in the competition. He has also beat Fernando Torres' 72-game record to 50 goals for Liverpool.
And it was 3-1 shortly after as Joel Matip's long ball found Firmino out wide right; he got the better of Jan Bednarek and squared beautifully for Henderson to sweep home from point-blank range, sending Liverpool fans into raptures.
Man of the match - Mo Salah
Chose a good time to end his scoring drought. A brilliant run and finish from the Egyptian, whose shirtless celebration showed how much it meant. He was at the heart of almost everything Liverpool did in the first half and took his chance superbly.
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Ralph Hasenhuttl: "It doesn't feel good. The guys are frustrated. But I think they showed a good performance today. Scoring after five minutes, it's a long way to go against a team of this quality."
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Ralph Hasenhuttl admits his Southampton side are frustrated after letting a lead slip
Jurgen Klopp: "People want us to play like Manchester City. We are unable to do that. Why should we do it? We play our own football. It's a nice way, and a really good way."
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Jurgen Klopp says he's proud of the fight in his Liverpool side after they came from behind
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Neville insisted he would not be surprised if both Liverpool and Manchester City dropped points in The Run In, but believes a "composed" Liverpool are well placed.
"Liverpool are in a far better position than they were a few years ago when they were going for the title, because at that time, it was a bit more desperate that time, a bit more frantic."
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Gary Neville believes a composed Liverpool are in a much better position than they were during their last sustained title challenge in 2013/14
Analysis - Salah strikes but Henderson shines
"Henderson's dynamic all-round performance was a reminder of his often overlooked value to the side and the goal was clearly a cathartic moment for him."
The pressure is back on City, Salah ends his drought, and is Henderson underrated?
Southampton have only managed to win one of their six Premier League games played on a Friday, suffering defeat in three of their last four such games (P6 W1 D2 L3).
Southampton have now lost 23 points from leading positions in the Premier League this season, more than any other side in 2018-19.
Liverpool have won seven of their last eight Premier League games when conceding the opening goal (L1), including tasting victory on each of the last five instances.
Following their come-from-behind victory, Liverpool have now won 16 points from losing positions in the Premier League, the most of any side this season.
Liverpool became the seventh club in English top-flight history to concede 5000 goals after Everton, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Sunderland and Arsenal.
Distance stats
Team A
Team B
Distance
113.5km
111.7km
Sprints
105
129
Distance (player)
Ward-Prowse (12.32km)
Fabinho (11.2km)
What's next
Liverpool now host Porto in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday night, before facing Chelsea in the Premier League at Anfield on Super Sunday, live on Sky Sports Premier League. Southampton host Wolves on Saturday at 3pm in the Premier League.