Mohamed Salah on Sunday scored twice as Liverpool muscled their way back into the English Premier League title race with a 3-1 win at West Ham United after Thomas Tuchel celebrated his first victory as Chelsea boss.
Juergen Klopp’s injury-hit champions appeared to have lost their way after a five-game winless run, but are back on track after beating Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham in the space of 72 hours.
Earlier, defenders Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso showed Chelsea’s misfiring strikers the way, producing stunning finishes in a 2-0 win against toothless Burnley.
Photo: Reuters
Leicester City, looking to close to within two points of leaders Manchester City, lost 3-1 to Leeds United and Spurs went down 1-0 to Brighton & Hove Albion in the evening kickoff.
Defeat for Brendan Rodgers’ Foxes meant Liverpool — with no fit senior centerbacks and missing forward Sadio Mane — had the chance to climb to third.
Two goals from Egypt international Salah and a late Georginio Wijnaldum effort lifted them to 40 points after 21 games, a single point behind Manchester United and four behind leaders Manchester City.
Salah, who had not scored in six Premier League matches, put the visitors ahead in the 57th minute with a fine curling lob over Lukasz Fabianski and added the second after a lightning break following a West Ham corner.
Liverpool grabbed a third when substitutes Roberto Firmino and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain combined to set up Wijnaldum for a tap-in, before a late consolation for West Ham’s Craig Dawson.
Salah is the first player to score at least 20 goals in all competitions in four consecutive seasons for Liverpool since Ian Rush in the 1980s.
“It was a great game, a very professional game, very controlled against usually a flying side,” Klopp told Sky Sports. “We didn’t create enough in the first half. We made little adjustments at halftime and it paid off. We scored three unbelievable goals.”
Chelsea manager Tuchel celebrated his first victory as manager of the Stamford Bridge club.
He oversaw a frustrating goalless draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers last week, but two moments of magic from Azpilicueta and forgotten man Alonso mean the German has four points from six.
Tuchel said the victory would infuse his side with confidence, but admitted they needed to sharpen up their finishing after both goals came from defenders.
“It should be a signal to our guys up front that we needed defensive players to score,” Tuchel told BT Sport.
Leicester, unbeaten in seven Premier League games heading into their match against Leeds at the King Power Stadium, had a chance to put real pressure on Manchester City.
Harvey Barnes gave the hosts the lead in the 13th minute, but Leeds were level just 127 seconds later when Patrick Bamford set up Stuart Dallas, who beat Kasper Schmeichel with a low finish.
Bamford struck a superb shot into the top corner to put the visitors ahead in the 70th minute and teed up Jack Harrison for a tap-in.
“We have to go away and learn from that, and then look to get back to winning ways on Wednesday,” said Rodgers, who is missing leading scorer Jamie Vardy.
Jose Mourinho’s Spurs, without the injured Harry Kane, slipped to their second successive defeat, courtesy of a first-half goal from Brighton’s Leandro Trossard.
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