Southampton vs Liverpool. Premier League.
St. Mary's StadiumAttendance31,797.
Highlights and report as Mo Salah scores for the first time in eight games to help Liverpool back top by two points
Saturday 6 April 2019 07:30, UK
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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."
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."
"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?
Read Nick Wright's talking points feature here
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.
