Salah sets goal record as Liverpool hit 100
MOHAMED Salah was inevitably on the scoresheet as Liverpool thrashed West Ham United 4-1 at Anfield in the English Premier League.
Salah’s brilliant Premier League season has now seen him snatch a record for his troubles.
With the victory on Saturday, manager Jurgen Klopp’s free scorers topped 100 goals for the season in their 40th match.
Emre Can, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane also netted in another Liverpool goalrush that moved them 15 points behind Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the league.
At the bottom of the table, the future of West Bromwich Albion manager Alan Pardew looks increasingly bleak, after a 2-1 defeat at home to relegation rivals Huddersfield Town.
Swansea City crashed 4-1 at Brighton & Hove Albion – and Bournemouth came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Newcastle United.
Liverpool’s win was not quite as routine as the scoreline suggested, with West Ham occasionally threatening on another nerve-tingling Anfield afternoon.
Salah scored for the sixth successive game in all competitions. His goal took him level with Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane at the top of the league scoring charts, with 23 this season.
But German Can was equally influential in Liverpool’s triumph, heading the opener and laying on a superb through pass for Brazilian Firmino to score Liverpool’s third, before Senegal’s Mane chipped in with a fourth goal in two games.
“It is difficult to be top, Manchester City are too far away, but of course we want to finish second,” Can said.
The German, whose six league goals represent the best haul of his Liverpool career, could be in his final season at Liverpool, as his contract expires at the end of the campaign.
Elsewhere, West Brom’s defeat will add to the pressure on manager Pardew, whose side are now seven points off safety.
Rajiv van La Parra and Steve Mounie scored for Huddersfield, whose win moved them three points up, one point ahead of Newcastle.
Rafa Benitez’s side looked to be guaranteed back-to-back wins for the first time since September, when Dwight Gayle ended a goal drought by scoring twice before the interval.
Yet Adam Smith and former Newcastle midfielder Dan Gosling completed an astonishing comeback by the league’s never-say-die team.
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe said: “It’s another point that nudges us towards where we want to be – every one could be vital at the end of the season.”
Swansea also scored late at Brighton, but a Lewis Dunk own goal proved academic, with the home side already 3-0 up.
A goal by Dutchman Jurgen Locadia on his league debut completed the rout as Swansea dropped back into the relegation zone, ahead of Stoke City, who drew 1-1 with Leicester City.
It would have been better for Paul Lambert’s side, had keeper Jack Butland not parried the ball into his own net when under no obvious pressure, a howler made all the more embarrassing by the presence of former Stoke, Leicester and England legend Peter Shilton in the stands.
Manager Lambert refused to criticise his keeper, whom he described as the best in Britain – although such an obvious howler will do little to help Butland secure the England jersey for the World Cup in Russia later this year.
At Turf Moor, Southampton’s Manolo Gabbiadini scored a 90th-minute equaliser as the visitors secured a nerve-jangling 1-1 draw at Burnley, who still await their first win of the year.
Everton remained in ninth place, but still only seven points above the relegation zone, after a 1-0 defeat at Watford – who moved up to 10th place in a tangled bottom half. – Reuters