Liverpool have dominated the English Premier League for much of the season. Despite their occasional struggles, the rest of the league’s rivals have been unable to knock them off the top spot. The All Reds edged closer to the title with a 3-1 win over bottom-of-the-table Southampton on Saturday. Manchester City were beaten by Nottingham Forest on the same night. The two teams are now 3-4th in the table.
Liverpool 3 : 1 Southampton
Liverpool stumbled as they hosted Southampton at Anfield, which set up a tense match. However, after the break, Arne Slott’s team took control of the match with three successful attacks on the visitors’ net. Darwin Nunez scored once for the Allreds and Mohamed Salah scored twice. Earlier, William Smallbone scored a goal for Southampton.
Liverpool were heading towards the break with a goalless scoreboard, maintaining their dominance in attacking football. However, a misunderstanding between goalkeeper Alisson Becker and defender Virgil van Dijk in the first half added time led to a misunderstanding between themselves. Irish midfielder Smallbone took the opportunity to catch the ball and score the goal through the legs of the Brazilian goalkeeper. Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott, desperate to get back into the match, almost scored a goal in the second half. However, his shot failed in front of goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
But they didn’t have to wait long. In the 51st minute, Luis Diaz passed a player in the box and passed the ball to Nunez. The Uruguayan forward ran in the blink of an eye and sent the ball into the net with a great tap. Three minutes later, Liverpool took the lead thanks to him. The referee awarded a penalty when he was fouled, from which Salah took a successful spot kick. In the 88th minute, Liverpool were awarded another penalty when an opposing defender blocked the ball with his hand. Salah then scored his second goal of the match and 27th of the season. The game ended 3-1.
By winning this match, Liverpool practically took another step towards the title. Their point gap with second-placed Arsenal is 16. Although the team from Slot has played two more matches. Liverpool is at the top with 70 points from 29 matches. Second-placed Arsenal has 54 points from 27 matches.
Manchester City 0 : 1 Nottingham Forest
Despite showing dominance throughout the match, City, desperate for a goal, failed to score. On the contrary, they conceded a goal towards the end and returned home with a 1-0 defeat. Pep Guardiola’s team had 70 percent possession of the ball throughout the match and took 14 shots. Of these, only 3 were on target. In contrast, the host Forest managed to put 4 on target with 9 shots.
Despite showing signs of a turnaround this year, City’s performance has recently deteriorated again. The only goal in the match against Forest was scored in the 83rd minute. English forward Hudson-Odoi grabbed the ball and entered the D-box from the right side and stunned City with a corner shot. No one else could score in the rest of the time. City is in danger of falling further down the table with this loss. They are currently fourth with 47 points from 28 matches, while Forest are third with 51 points from the same number of matches.
