Liverpool moved seven factors clear on the prime of the Premier League desk with a 3-1 win over Leicester at Anfield.
Second-placed Chelsea’s defeat to Fulham earlier on Boxing Day gave Arne Slot’s aspect the possibility to increase their lead on the summit they usually took it with each palms – albeit after an early scare.
Leicester took a shock lead within the sixth minute when Jordan Ayew swivelled and located the underside nook with a deflected effort from Stephy Mavididi’s low cross, however the hosts got here roaring again.
Cody Gakpo levelled when he reduce inside from the left-hand aspect and curled dwelling an outstanding effort from the sting of the field in first-half stoppage time, with Liverpool then stepping into entrance when Curtis Jones swept dwelling Alexis Mac Allister’s cut-back early within the second interval.
Mohamed Salah, who struck the crossbar within the first half, added some gloss to the end result late on when he drove into the field from the proper and guided a wonderful end past Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk for his sixteenth Premier League objective of the season.
Liverpool’s lead on the prime shall be diminished to 6 factors if third-placed Arsenal beat Ipswich on the Emirates Stadium on Friday evening however Arne Slot’s aspect nonetheless have a recreation in hand, placing them in an much more commanding place within the title race.
Leicester, in the meantime, slip under Wolves into 18th place, a 3rd consecutive Premier League loss leaving them some extent from security.
Slot: You noticed how good we’re
Liverpool boss Arne Slot:
“It sounds weird but I thought we had a really good start. We were threatening them for six minutes, but then one moment where we underestimated a situation and it immediately led to a chance and a goal and we have to work really hard to come back in the game.
“In the long run I would not say we had been fortunate, but it surely actually helped to attain earlier than half-time, as a result of we went 1-0 down and it was a recreation earlier than we made it 3-1. Then I feel you noticed how good we actually are.”
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Arne Slot says he isn’t getting carried away with Liverpool’s lead on the prime
On the title being Liverpool’s to lose, he added: “I don’t look at it that way. It’s bit of a boring answer, but as a manager you go game by game because you know how many games you still have to play and you see especially in the Premier League results that you didn’t expect because teams have so much quality.
“Possibly if it was the Eredivisie it will really feel like this however not on this competitors.”
Salah on target again
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah to Amazon Prime:
“It is a good end result. They had been higher within the first half, in the best way they put together themselves, they had been excellent.
“The way they were standing in front of the box, it was quite hard for us especially in the first half, but we managed to score three goals and it’s a great result.
“[Gakpo’s] was a great goal and it gave us confidence in the second half to try to win the game. It’s something he’s practised a lot in training. It was a great finish from him.”
On his personal objective, Salah added: “It’s great. The most important thing for me is the team winning. Hopefully we win the Premier League and I have a big impact. We just need to focus and carry on like that.”
Cody Gakpo mentioned of his objective: “We do practise that a lot and they always say practise makes perfect so we’ll keep practising.
“Clearly we went behind, we needed to battle to get degree and we acquired some good alternatives. I acquired the ball from [Mac Allister] and I noticed some house and I simply did what we do in coaching.
“We know the qualities we have, but it’s not nice to go behind. We are working on that so we are not sloppy in the beginning.”
Salah reaches landmark – Opta stats
- Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has been concerned in 27 objectives in 17 Premier League video games this season (16 objectives, 11 assists), only one fewer than he was in 32 appearances final time period (18 objectives, 10 assists).
- His objective to make it 3-1 was his one hundredth dwelling objective within the Premier League. He’s the eighth participant to succeed in this milestone.
- Making his 250th Premier League begin for Liverpool, Mohamed Salah turned the fourth participant to register 250 Premier League objective involvements for a single aspect (171 objectives, 79 assists), together with Wayne Rooney for Man Utd (276), Ryan Giggs for Man Utd (271) and Harry Kane for Tottenham (259).
Evaluation: Is there any stopping Liverpool?
By the point the ultimate whistle sounded, Ayew’s opening objective felt like a distant reminiscence. Remarkably, Leicester didn’t have a single shot after the tenth minute of the sport.
Such is Liverpool’s capability to smother their opponents. They stayed cool after falling behind, at the same time as they struggled to search out their rhythm. However Salah isn’t their solely game-changer.
Curtis Jones celebrates after placing Liverpool 2-1 up towards Leicester
Gakpo is one other. His equalising objective was a factor of magnificence and the end result by no means seemed doubtful after that. Liverpool had been forward quickly after half-time and, in fact, Salah needed to get his objective too. In the long run, it felt like as straightforward a victory as Liverpool may have requested for.
It’s coming as much as 4 months since they final misplaced a recreation. That September reverse towards Nottingham Forest appears increasingly more like an aberration. The current attracts towards Newcastle and Fulham felt uncharacteristic too however Liverpool are again of their circulate now.
Their unbeaten run now stands at 22 video games in all competitions. They are going to be prime on the flip of the yr, whatever the end result towards West Ham on Sunday. They are going to most definitely be prime in Might too. It’s turning into tough to see some other end result.
Van Nistelrooy: Credit score to my workforce
Leicester boss Ruud van Nistelrooy:
“We had the start that we wanted. We knew we had to be compact, we had to defend well, defend crosses well which we did and with a couple of breaks we were dangerous. We were in the game and at 2-1 we had the chance with Patson Daka.
Leicester gamers have a good time after Jordan Ayew’s opener at Liverpool
“These are the moments, in this sort of game you have to take them. But only credit for the team, we were competitive and we were in the game for a long time.
“It is as much as us to maintain creating, to maintain doing what we’re doing, hold creating recreation plans for each opponent and suppose how we will win the sport. The gamers know what to do they usually acted on it and at the moment it was the utmost doable.
