Southampton 2 – 3 Liverpool

Premier League leaders Liverpool opened up an eight-point gap between themselves and second-placed Manchester City after they came from behind to beat Southampton 3-2 in a Super Sunday thriller at St Mary’s.

Goals from Adam Armstrong and Matheus Fernandes had seen Saints cancel out Dominik Szoboszlai’s opener – but Mohamed Salah’s double did the trick for Arne Slot’s side in wet and windy conditions on the south coast.

It was almost the perfect start for Southampton. With seven minutes on the clock, Armstrong chopped inside Ibrahima Konate and went to ground inside the box. The home fans were incensed, certain a penalty should follow, but neither referee Sam Barrott nor VAR Michael Oliver agreed.

Liverpool started in lacklustre fashion but tested Saints goalkeeper Alex McCarthy – starting in the Premier League for the first time in three months – on a handful of occasions, until they were gifted the lead.

McCarthy rolled the ball to Fernandes under intense pressure, Flynn Downes tried and failed to hook the ball clear, which allowed Szoboszlai to arrow a shot into the top-left corner. It was the seventh error leading to a goal from Russell Martin’s side this season – the most in the Premier League.

But, just before the break, Saints got themselves level. A lengthy VAR review confirmed Tyler Dibling was clattered by Andy Robertson just inside the box and, though Caoimhin Kelleher saved Armstrong’s initial effort, the forward tucked away the rebound.

Before the hour mark, the comeback was complete. Dibling won the ball in a tight space near the halfway line and lifted a marvellous pass into the path of Armstrong. He held the ball up, turned and squared for Fernandes to bound in and sweep home.

Then the momentum swung again. Ryan Gravenberch hoisted the ball forward for Salah, whose nonchalant finish caught McCarthy – who had been prompted to come racing off his line – cold, with the ball trickling past him and into the unguarded net.

And there was no way back for the hosts once Salah rattled a penalty past McCarthy after Yukinari Sugawara had handled when misreading a cross to the back post, which confirmed the teams would stay in their respective positions at the top and bottom of the Premier League table.

Should Lallana have seen red?

Prior to his substitution, Southampton’s Adam Lallana was booked for a foul on Gravenberch.

“He’s not in control, he’s not even looking at the ball,” said Sky Sports‘ Roy Keane.

“They’ve looked at the character of the player, he’s not really a nasty type. Southampton have got away with one there. The more I look at it the worse it gets.”

Analysis: Liverpool cement ‘title favourites’ tag

Sky Sports’ Laura Hunter:

Slot has won 10 of his 12 Premier League games in charge of Liverpool, the joint-fastest any manager has reached double figures for wins in the competition. And all the signs, after another measure of his side’s ability to overcome adversity, remain rosy.

Errors were made, but the scoreline only ever briefly compromised. Liverpool look imperious, led by the magnificence of Salah, and have now opened up an eight-point gap at the top.

It is hard to see Manchester City, 4-0 losers to Spurs this weekend, challenging at this moment in time, while slip-ups have also been made by Arsenal in recent weeks. Liverpool keep winning.

The Slot steam train is rolling on at an alarming pace, and now they must consider themselves favourites for the title. Of course, such sentiment will not be whispered outside the walls of their Kirkby training base, at risk of inviting complacency, but we are all thinking the same thing.

Apparently Slot “doesn’t do romanticism, he does wins”. Keep going at this rate and Liverpool will be in line to win the biggest prize of them all.

Martin: Saints will have to break records again in survival bid

Southampton manager Russell Martin:

“My overriding feeling at the minute is the frustration and disappointment at the goals we concede, which are so poor. We were playing against a team with such quality and if they produce a moment of magic or score a brilliant team goal, you can maybe accept it a little bit more, but the quality of the goals we concede are so bad, so bad.

“We looked a threat, much better than we did at Wolves in terms of the final third and the attacking threat we had. Big numbers a lot of the time, playing against the best team in the league. We limited them to a lot of shots from outside the box.

“I asked the guys to play quickly and forward as much as they could, then it was the wrong time to do that because Liverpool had so many players in the final third. We needed to take the sting out of the game and manage that. But that’s on me and I need to make it clearer when and where to do that.

“There’s not a lack of competing, a lack of fight, a lack of desire and willingness to run for each other. The players that were here in the Premier League last time feel very differently about the feeling of this; even after Man City away, Arsenal away, Liverpool at home, the guys feel they are so close and we have to eradicate those moments.

“The team broke all sorts of records last year, so we’re going to have to do it again.”

Slot: Liverpool not getting carried away despite healthy lead

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot:

“Of course, we are really happy, especially because, after an hour, we were 2-1 down. Maybe that wasn’t a reflection of how the first hour went because we dominated the whole game, which is not that easy. I’ve seen many games where Southampton dominated the game.

“In the end, if you’re 2-1 down after an hour, you are maybe over the moon if you win 3-2.

“We always know we can trust him [Salah] if things are difficult for us. After we went 2-1 down, I didn’t really feel that was the moment we should score then, after a fantastic pass from Ryan Gravenberch, the timing of the run and the way Mo finished it was special and that really helped us back into the game.

“Last season, it was even later on in the season Arsenal led by eight points and Man City came back so you know Arsenal, Chelsea, City and all the other teams are able to win so many games in a row. It’s nice to have this position, but we are definitely not getting carried away.”

Story of the match in stats…

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