Slot breaks record, Liverpool continue to lead

AP:

ARNE SLOT earned a Liverpool record of nine wins from his first 10 games in charge after the club stayed on the top of the English Premier League yesterday.

Diogo Jota’s ninth-minute goal at Selhurst Park held up to beat Crystal Palace 1-0 and ensure Slot would be looking down on rival managers Pep Guardiola of Manchester City and Mikel Arteta of Arsenal, heading into the international break.

Four-time defending champions City, a second after beating Fulham 3-2 and third-placed Arsenal, won against Southampton 3-1. Both trail Liverpool by a point.

Slot is making light work of filling the void left by Anfield great Jurgen Klopp, with no other manager in the club’s history winning so many of his opening games in all competitions.

“It definitely is (very satisfying). And it’s actually also quite special if you know how many great managers Liverpool had,” Slot said.

“But I also said last week I think that I hope they don’t only remember me in one, two, three, four, five years only for this. We are hoping to do more special things than this.”

Liverpool’s only defeat under the Dutchman was a shock 1-0 home loss against Nottingham Forest. Otherwise, it has been a perfect start for a man who had the ominous task of replacing Klopp, who won a full set of major honours, including the Premier League and Champions League.

Slot looks likely to be the main challenger to City and Arsenal, who have been first and second respectively in the last two seasons.

Both of those teams survived scares to come from behind to win at home.

It wasn’t all good news for Liverpool after goalkeeper Alisson sustained a suspected hamstring injury and was substituted in the second half at Palace.

The Brazil international, who has only recently returned from a muscle injury, was holding the back of his right leg after limping off Selhurst Park, and is likely to miss Brazil’s World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Peru.

Argentina midfielder Alexis Mac Allister also went off with a groin issue that makes him a doubt for his country’s qualifiers against Venezuela and Bolivia.

Unbeaten at home

City extended their unbeaten home run to 50 games in all competitions, with victory against Fulham.

The sequence dates to November 2022 when Brentford won 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium through Ivan Toney’s last-minute strike. City were knocked out of the Champions League quarter-finals by Real Madrid last season after losing a penalty shootout, but the game ended 1-1 after extra time and does not officially count as a defeat.

It took John Stones’ stoppage-time goal to preserve the record in a 2-2 draw against Arsenal last month and, yesterday, two goals from Mateo Kovacic saw City fight back after Andreas Pereira fired Fulham into a 26th-minute lead.

Kovacic’s deflected strike levelled the score in the 32nd and he made it 2-1 in the 47th.

Jeremy Doku extended City’s lead in the 82nd before substitute Rodrigo Muniz set up a tense finish with Fulham’s second in the 88th.

Had Adama Traore been more clinical with chances in each half, City’s proud record might have been broken.

Arsenal’s 400th home win in the Premier League era was secured only after being given a fright by second-from-bottom Southampton, who took the lead at Emirates Stadium through Cameron Archer 10 minutes into the second half.

Bukayo Saka set up goals for Kai Havertz in the 58th and Gabriel Martinelli in the 68th before Southampton twice hit the frame of the goal in search of an equaliser.

Saka then put the game beyond doubt with his third goal of the season in the 88th.

After becoming the first team in Premier League history to score in the opening minute in three consecutive games, Brentford is slowing down.

The west London club’s fans had to wait until the second minute to cheer their first goal against Wolves yesterday when Nathan Collins found the back of the net on the way to a wild 5-3 win.

Matheus Cunha equalised for Wolves two minutes later and Bryan Mbeumo restored Brentford’s advantage from the penalty spot in the 20th.

It was all square again when Jorgen Strand Larsen levelled in the 26th, then Christian Norgaard put the home team in front for the third time in the 28th.

Ethan Pinnock made it 4-2 in first-half stoppage time.

A frantic finish saw Fabio Carvalho score a fifth for Brentford in the 90th and Rayan Ait-Nouri grab a consolation for last-placed Wolves three minutes later.

Leicester won for the first time since being promoted back to the top flight by beating Bournemouth 1-0.

Facundo Buonanotte struck the winner in the 16th at King Power Stadium.

West Ham also beat Ipswich 4-1 at London Stadium.