Eight points clear – go on, count them. Mo Salah and Liverpool are going to take some stopping now.
Only two sides – Newcastle in 1995 and Arsenal two years ago – have won 10 of their first 12 games and not gone on to win the Premier League title. They sphinx it’s all over? It’s too soon to book an open-topped double decker from the bus depot, but when Liverpool were in trouble at storm-tossed St Mary’s, inevitably it was their Egyptian king who came to the rescue.
That’s 13 goals for Salah this season. Both his goals here were gifts, but he’s irrepressible, irresistible, unstoppable. And for manager Arne Slot, fastest out of the blocks to 30 points along with Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti among Premier League managers, a white-knuckle ride was worth all the twists and drama.
Don’t fall for the hogwash that Slot’s quietly measured approach is less exciting than predecessor Jurgen Klopp’s heavy metal football. Pragmatic? Efficient? Dull? You must be joking – this was a thriller which nearly turned the table on its head.
And the only predictable part was that Salah – 223 goals and counting for the club – would have the final say. After half an hour of being camped around the Saints box like Just Stop Oil protesters picketing a refinery, they seized on the home side’s first serious act of charity.
Flynn Downes’ awful clearance from inside his own six-yard box went straight to Dominik Szoboszlai, who needed no second invitations to make him pay, the Hungarian midfielder’s left-foot finish kissing the post on its flight path beyond Alex McCarthy.
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Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
If Saints spent as much time trying to weave intricate passes in the attacking third as they waste in their own box, they would be tremendous to watch. Pretty patterns are for Laura Ashley catalogues, not relegation battles, but manager Russell Martin is determined to stick to his philosophy because he believes it’s “brave” to play out of your own box where many onlookers fear it’s suicide.
Take your pick – but almost the first time Southampton ran at Liverpool’s back four, they equalised four minutes before the break. Andy Robertson was adjudged to have tripped the excellent Tyler Dibling on the edge of the box, VAR Michael Oliver upholding ref Sam Barrott’s borderline decision to award a penalty.
Adam Armstrong potted the rebound after Caoimhin Kelleher had beaten out his spot-kick, and worse was to follow for Slot 11 minutes after the interval. Dibling appeared to be hemmed in on the touchline in front of the dugouts, but when his superb reverse pass released Armstrong, Mateus Fernandes arrived in the box to sweep an assured left-foot finish beyond the statuesque Kelleher,
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PA)
But if Saints were in dreamland, their reverie lasted only eight minutes. Ryan Gravenberch’s long ball down the channel looked optimistic at best, but as it dropped out of the sky Downes was playing Salah onside and the Egyptian king prodded it beyond the advancing McCarthy, who had wandered into no man’s land.
Injured first-choice Saints keeper Aaron Ramsdale, nursing a broken finger in the posh seats, looked on with a face like thunder. As driving rain swept in on the back of howling Storm Bert, conditions were increasingly difficult to judge any bounce, and sure enough Southampton sub Yuki Sugawara panicked as he misjudged Salah’s cross towards the far post and handled it.
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Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
The Egyptian king buried his penalty high and handsome beyond McCarthy – and even had enough time to come within a whisker of a hat-trick when his volley rattled a post. So the Slot machine is still producing pennies from heaven for the Kop – but for Saints, the omens read like a threatening letter.
In seven previous instances of a club losing 10 of their first 12 games in top-flight history, all seven have been relegated.
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