Mohamed Salah scored twice on Sunday as Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 to maintain their hex over the London club, returning to winning ways after two consecutive English Premier League defeats.
The Reds started the match 10 points behind fourth-placed Spurs, with questions growing over their ability to even mount a challenge for next season’s UEFA Champions League places.
Yet they dominated the contest from the start and took an early lead when the impressive Darwin Nunez teed up Salah, who fired into the bottom corner.
Photo: AFP
The visitors’ intensity dropped as the half wore on, but they were 2-0 up shortly before halftime when Salah took advantage of a horrendous error by Eric Dier, who headed the ball straight into the path of the Egypt forward.
Harry Kane pulled a goal back in the 70th minute as the decibel count rose among the crowd of 62,000, but Spurs could not avoid a third defeat in four league matches.
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp celebrated the win with his trademark air punches, enjoying his side’s first away win in the league since May.
“I got a bit carried away, but it is big, absolutely big,” said Klopp, whose team have been uncharacteristically inconsistent this season.
“What we have to show is that we are not punched too hard when we concede a goal. I like that tonight... We cannot be consistent by just playing all the time outstandingly well. It’s all about showing the resilience we showed tonight,” he said.
Man-of-the-match Salah has now scored 10 goals in 10 games in all competitions after a sluggish start to the season.
“Everybody will remember one of the best strikers we ever saw, because the numbers will be absolutely insane,” said Klopp, brushing aside the player’s early season struggles.
Spurs, who have now lost seven out of the past nine Premier League matches between the sides, were without South Korea forward Son Heung-min, who suffered a fracture around his left eye in his side’s midweek Champions League win against Marseille.
Spurs manager Antonio Conte bemoaned the injuries his team have had this season and said they were not the finished article despite improvements during his year in charge.
“We are far from other teams that are used to win and they have a [strong] squad to win,” he said. “If we understand this together it will be good. Everybody wants to win. I’m the first that wants to win, but we need time and patience.”
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