Mo’s prayers answered as double extends lead
LIVERPOOL 2
Salah (38, 90) WATFORD 0
For the second time in four days Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah showed a touch of class to score two brilliantly different goals as the leaders made it 16 wins out of 17.
Neither may have had the pin-point precision of his narrow-angle effort against Red Bull Salzburg in the Champions League, but his lofted finish over goalkeeper Ben Foster oozed quality, while his clever 90th-minute back heel showed quick-thinking.
Quality was something of a rare commodity in the early kick-off at Anfield as the visitors made life difficult and could arguably have taken a point.
Salah showed them how it should be done with his fourth goal in three games – taking his tally to 13 for the campaign – and his eighth in five appearances against the Hornets.
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp had praise for goalkeeper Alisson Becker as a couple of good saves early in the second half ensured Anfield had its first clean sheet of the season.
“Ali was 85 minutes of the game doing warm-up exercises, but in those five minutes he showed us what a goalie he is,” said Klopp.
“He does a lot in these situations and we had to fight and that is how we won.”
Nigel Pearson’s first match as Watford manager showed signs of promise, but his side remain bottom of the league.
“We created some unbelievably good goal-scoring situations but were unable to convert them today,” he said.
“It is of scant reward that we leave here with nothing for our efforts in terms of
points, but I was very pleased with the collective work ethic.”
In the sixth minute, Troy Deeney went with the wrong foot in trying to convert a cross and missed from eight yards.
Worse was to follow as Will Hughes skimmed a shot wide with three teammates in close proximity, before the circus really came to town as both Abdoulaye Doucoure and Sarr had embarrassing mis-kicks in front of goal.
By the time the latter had shinned it after Alisson Becker had parried Gerard
Deulofeu’s shot, Liverpool were ahead with a clinical counter-attack.
They broke from a Watford corner, won as a result of the Doucoure miss, with Roberto Firmino releasing Mane down the left.
He put Salah through, one-on-one with Kiko Femenia, and the Egypt international cut back on to his right foot, before curling a shot up and over Foster.
It was the one moment of quality in a half which saw the hosts dominate possession, but struggle to break down
opponents who retreated 11 men to within 40 yards of their own goal when out of possession.
Alisson made two good saves early in the second half, one from Sarr and the other from Deulofeu – in between each Mane had his powerful, flicked header from Xherdan Shaqiri’s cross ruled out after VAR adjudged his hip was fractionally offside.
Liverpool’s injury worries – they are already missing centre-backs
Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren and midfielder Fabinho – deepened when Georginio Wijnaldum was forced off with an apparent hamstring problem.
If Watford were their own worst enemies in the first half, it was Liverpool’s turn after the break, with over-complication in the penalty area seeing Firmino and Salah spurn chances.
But the worst incidence came 10 minutes from time, when Virgil van
Dijk side-footed a back pass past Alisson, and he could only watch as the ball trickled fractionally wide.
Salah flicked in a late second in the final minute of normal time to make the points safe for the Reds.
Warmer climes now beckon as Liverpool head to Qatar for the Club World Cup, meaning they miss next weekend’s action and will have a match in hand of their rivals.
By the time they return, their lead may have been cut to five points.