With a trademark left-footed curler into the top corner and the deftest of finishes from a clinical counterattack,
The champions’ chief scorer is back doing what he does best. And that should make them the biggest threat to relentless leader
Salah’s sublime, second-half double set Liverpool on its way to a 3-1 win at West Ham on Sunday, which backed up a victory by the same scoreline at
Jurgen Klopp’s team hadn’t won any of its previous five games and had dropped off the remorseless title pace being set by City, which has won eight straight league games.
Despite its lengthy injury list — and
They jumped above
“If you want to win the league, you have to win every game,” Salah said. “This year, City were struggling in the beginning. We were struggling three or four games ago. You just need to keep winning if you want to win the
“It was a really big week.”
Salah scored twice in an FA Cup loss to
The
But there was no stopping him at the
His opener in the 57th minute was classic Salah, twisting and turning as he came in from the right before bending a shot into the far corner beyond goalkeeper
His second goal in the 68th was even better as he controlled a high, hanging pass from Xherdan Shaqiri with his weaker right foot and poked home a finish with his left.
“The first touch was unbelievable,” Klopp said, “then the fine finishing touch.”
Georginio Wijnaldum added a third off a well-worked team move in the 84th before
However well Liverpool plays in the second half of the season, it will need City to drop its stunning levels of late.
For Klopp, ideally that happens next weekend when City visits Anfield.
Before that, Chelsea had picked up its first win under newly hired coach
Even a recovery under Tuchel might be too late for Chelsea to challenge for the title, with the
Liverpool, though, is still very much in contention.
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