1 year ago
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AP:
MOHAMED SALAH’S double helped Liverpool pass a huge test of their Premier League title credentials after winning at in-form Bournemouth 2-0 and establishing a nine-point lead yesterday.
High-flying rivals Nottingham Forest also made a statement of their own in a record 7-0 rout of Brighton.
Salah moved above Chelsea great Frank Lampard to sixth on the all-time Premier League scoring chart, on 178 goals, by converting a 30th-minute penalty and curling in a beautiful second in the 75th.
The Egypt forward has 21 goals in what could be his last Premier League campaign with Liverpool, with whom his contract is up at the end of the season. It’s the fifth time he has netted 20 or more league goals in a single season for the club.
It ended Bournemouth’s 11-match unbeaten run in the league and left Liverpool with a commanding advantage over both second-place Arsenal and third-place Forest, who bounced back from a 5-0 loss last weekend – also at Bournemouth – by demolishing Brighton for their biggest victory in the Premier League era.
Chris Wood scored a hat trick for Forest, who are on course to qualify for a European competition next season – potentially even the Champions League by securing a finish in the top four or five.
Arsenal host Manchester City today and will look to trim the gap to Liverpool back down to six points.
Liverpool will be tough to stop now, with just 15 games left of a campaign in which Arne Slot’s team has shown plenty of resilience to lose only once.
The Dutch manager acknowledged Liverpool’s latest win came with a hint of fortune, with Bournemouth twice hitting the post and seeing Justin Kluivert shooting wide in front of an open goal.
“If you want to win here, maybe you need a bit of luck because the margins are so small,” Slot said.
“It was a close call for us to win this game. We weren’t unlucky, let’s put it that way.”
Liverpool right back Trent Alexander-Arnold went off in the 70th with a suspected thigh injury and will undergo a scan. Slot said he would “be surprised” if Alexander-Arnold played against Tottenham in the second leg of the English League Cup semifinals on Thursday, when Liverpool will look to overturn a 1-0 deficit.
Wood, a 33-year-old New Zealand international enjoying the most prolific Premier League season of his career, took his tally to 17 goals with his hat trick. Wood is behind only Salah (21) and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (18) in the race for the Golden Boot.
Morgan Gibbs-White, Neco Williams and Jota Silva also scored after an own goal by Lewis Dunk set the ball rolling at the City Ground for third-place Forest, the surprise of the Premier League this season, and moved level on 47 points with Arsenal.
“What a difference a week can make,” Wood said, referring to Forest’s heavy loss at Bournemouth. “Last week wasn’t us. Today was definitely us.”
Forest battled to avoid relegation last season but now have a great chance of qualifying for the Champions League, which would put the club back in Europe’s elite – where they were two generations ago when winning the European Cup in 1979 and 1980.
Yesterday’s Results
Forest 7-0 Brighton
Newcastle 1-2 Fulham
Everton 4-0 Leicester
Ipswich 1-2 Southampton
Bournemouth 0-2 Liverpool
Wolves 2-0 Villa
English (US) ·