[ad_1]
Mohamed Salah scored two goals to lead Liverpool to a 2-1 victory over Tottenham on Sunday, to preserve his brilliance at the expense of the London club, to return to winning ways after two consecutive defeats in the English Premier League.
Jurgen Klopp’s men started the game 10 points clear of fourth-placed Tottenham, with questions growing about their ability to even challenge for the Champions League places next season.
But they dominated the game from the start and took an early lead when the fantastic Darwin Nunez dispatched Salah, who volleyed into the bottom corner.
The visitors’ intensity subsided as the first half ended, but they were leading 2-0 shortly before the end of the first half when Salah took advantage of a terrible mistake from Eric Dier, who headed the ball straight into the path of the Egypt striker.
Harry Kane reduced the goal in the 70th minute, as the number of decibels rose among the crowd, which amounted to 62,000 spectators, but Tottenham was unable to avoid the third loss in four league matches.
Klopp celebrated the victory with his signature volley in front of the Liverpool fans, enjoying his side’s first away win in the league since May.
“It drifted a little bit but it’s big, very big,” said the German coach, whose team has been uncharacteristically inconsistent this season.
“What we have to show is that we don’t get punched too hard when we give up on a target.
“I love that tonight… We can’t be consistent by playing great all the time. It’s all about showing the resilience we showed tonight.”
Tottenham have so far lost seven of their nine Premier League matches without South Korean striker Son Heung-min, who fractured his left eye in his team’s midweek Champions League victory over Marseille.
Nunez, who was invading the left side of Liverpool’s attack, tested Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris early on and was the lead for Salah’s goal, dominating Andrew Robertson’s pass and feeding the Egyptian who fired home in the 11th minute.
– Baker’s brilliance –
Spurs found their feet as the half wore on and were only denied an equalizer when Alisson Becker saved from close range from Perisic after Kane’s cross.
Halfway through the opening period, the home crowd took advantage of a penalty when Ryan Sessegnon went down under a challenge from Trent Alexander-Arnold but referee Andrew Madley cleared the allegations and the VAR did not intervene.
Liverpool, who had lost their previous two Premier League matches, against Nottingham Forest and Leeds, gave Tottenham a mountain climb when they doubled their lead in the 40th minute.
Becker fired the ball up front and Dier got his header but misplaced it horribly, straight into the path of Salah, who lifted the ball over Lloris and into the net.
Tottenham came out of the blocks early in the second half.
England defender Dyer, desperate to make up for his mistake, forced Alisson into a diving save before Perisic rattled the crossbar.
They were finally able to calculate their intense pressure with 20 minutes left when substitute Dejan Kulusevski, who had just been brought on, sent Kane who fired home from an acute angle.
Clement Lenglet, Tottenham’s center back, headed in from close range as the minutes went by but Liverpool held on to score only their fifth league win of the season.
Player of the match Salah has now scored 10 goals in 10 matches in all competitions after a slow start to the season.
“One of the best strikers we’ve ever seen will be remembered by everyone because the numbers would be absolutely insane,” said Klopp.
Tottenham manager Antonio Conte has lamented the injuries his team have suffered this season and said they are not the final article despite improvements during his year at the helm.
“We are far from other teams who are used to winning and have a (strong) team to win,” he said.
“If we understand this together it will be good. Everyone wants to win. I am the first to want to win but we need time and patience.”
Read all files The latest sports news over here
[ad_2]
Source link
