Liverpool make it six in a row at Southampton
Mohamed Salah scored his first Premier League goal since the opening weekend of the season as Liverpool cruised to a 3-0 victory over Southampton at Anfield yesterday.
Xherdan Shaqiri was handed a first Premier League start since joining from Stoke City over the summer and the Swiss international was instrumental in two of Liverpool’s goals as Jurgen Klopp’s men recorded a sixth successive win in a flying start to the season.
It was Shaqiri’s cross that was inadvertently turned into his own net by Southampton defender Wesley Hoedt before the recalled Joel Matip powered home a Trent Alexander-Arnold corner to double the hosts’ advantage. Salah, who operated in a more central striking role, then scored his first goal since netting in the 4-0 opening day win over West Ham United when the Egyptian forward bundled home a rebound after Shaqiri’s sizzling free kick hit the crossbar.
Including last week’s 3-2 Uefa Champions League win over Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool have won all of their seven matches this season, surpassing their previous best beginning to a campaign, set in 1961/62, when they won their first six.
The Merseysiders sit on top of the Premier League with a 100 per cent record, although Chelsea can match them should they win away at West Ham United today.
Though happy with the result, Klopp said the number of changes to his starting XI had a negative effect on Liverpool’s performance. “The result is really cool and the performance could have been better,” Klopp said. “The changes cost us as I changed the system. Shaqiri was influential and Matip was too, but our organisation was a problem.
“You could see that with the communication on the pitch, but we changed back to a system we are used to.
“Matip was spot on and the full backs had outstanding work rate and I liked what I saw. What I didn’t like today was my fault.”
Though the sight of Salah’s name on the scoresheet after six games without a goal and Shaqiri showing he can add an extra dimension to Liverpool’s attack from wide areas, a shut out against an admittedly toothless Southampton – a fourth clean sheet in six league games for Klopp’s side – should offer Klopp enough encouragement that Liverpool look best equipped to challenge champions Manchester City and win a first league title since 1990.
“We have won at the moment and we feel good, we have a clean sheet and scored three goals,” said Matip, who was preferred ahead of Joe Gomez to partner Virgil van Dijk in the heart of the Liverpool defence.
“Clean sheets give us confidence for the following games. We want to concede as few goals as possible.”
Liverpool’s afternoon was soured, though, by a rib injury to Van Dijk that forced the world’s most expensive defender off early in the second period ahead of a demanding run of fixtures.
Klopp’s men face Chelsea and City in their next two league games, with a Champions League trip to Napoli sandwiched in between.