Liverpool extended their lead at the top of the Premier League table to eight points after edging Southampton in a five-goal thriller on Sunday afternoon.
Premier League
Result: Southampton 2-3 Liverpool
Date: 24 November 2024
Venue: St Mary's Stadium
The Reds made three changes following their win over Aston Villa, as Conor Bradley took the place of the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dominik Szoboszlai took the place of Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo started ahead of Luis Diaz.
Arne Slot's charges were met with a lot of resistance from Southampton in the early exchanges and only came close to going ahead on 20 minutes after Mohamed Salah had a shot at the back post saved by goalkeeper Alex McCarthy.
Liverpool eventually went ahead on the half-hour mark from a mistake at the back by The Saints, after Szoboszlai intercepted a bad clearance and curled a shot into the far post.
The home side had a fight in them and after taking the game to Liverpool, they were awarded a penalty just before the interval thanks to a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review after Andrew Robertson tripped Tyler Dibling just on the line.
Southampton forward Adam Armstrong had his penalty initially saved by McCarthy but he levelled matters from the rebound, as the sides went to the break all square.
The visitors were eager to go forward from the break and 11 minutes later they were caught on a counter-attack after Mateus Fernandes gave Russell Martin's troops the lead with a low curler after he went through on goal.
Slot reacted with attacking changes around the hour-mark as Diaz and Mac Allister came on for Gakpo and Curtis Jones to bring new energy.
The Reds started to threaten more after that and Salah made it 2-2 moments later with a tap-in after a big error by McCarthy, who came off his line and misjudged a ball over the top by Ryan Gravenberch.
Liverpool camped inside Southampton's half in the closing stages and their pressure paid off eight minutes before time after a handball in the box by Yukinari Sugawara.
Salah stepped up, made it 3-2 for the Reds and completed his brace with a powerful strike into the top corner.
Liverpool had the momentum and Salah was unfortunate not to make it 4-2 and complete his hat-trick in the dying minutes after he had a shot unmarked at the back post that came off the bottom post.
Slot's men pulled eight points clear of second-placed Manchester City, who they face at Anfield next weekend.
