Arne Slot hails 'special' Mohamed Salah after Liverpool brace in Southampton win

Liverpool boss Arne Slot hailed the “special” performance of Mohamed Salah, whose brace helped the Reds overturn a deficit to secure a 3-2 victory over Southampton and extend their Premier League lead to eight points.

The league leaders were on the brink of an upset when Mateus Fernandes put the Saints ahead in the 56th minute.

However, Salah’s quick thinking and precision turned the tide. First, he outpaced goalkeeper Alex McCarthy to latch onto Ryan Gravenberch’s through ball, then he confidently dispatched a penalty into the top corner after Yukinari Sugawara’s handball.

Dominik Szoboszlai had initially given Liverpool the lead with a curling effort, capitalising on poor Southampton defending. Adam Armstrong’s rebounded penalty equalised before half-time, setting the stage for a thrilling second half.

Ultimately, it was Salah’s decisive contribution that clinched the win in a pulsating match. “We always know we can trust him when things are difficult for us,” Slot commented. “After we went 2-1 down I didn’t really feel that that was the moment we would score.”

He added: “It was a fantastic pass from Ryan Gravenberch, but the timing of the run and the finish was special. That really helped us back in the game, and we needed that goal to play the last 25 minutes that we played, because for me then it was only a matter of time until we scored.”

Liverpool’s new boss Slot has made a remarkable start, securing 10 wins from his first 12 Premier League games, joining the elite ranks of Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti with this achievement.

Despite facing a tenacious Southampton side languishing at the bottom of the table, Liverpool emerged victorious in what Slot described as one of the more challenging wins of his tenure.

“We’re really happy, especially because after an hour we were 2-1 down and maybe that wasn’t a reflection of how the first hour went,” Slot added. “I think we dominated the whole game, which is not that easy.

“I’ve seen many Southampton games where they have dominated the game. But if you’re 2-1 down after an hour you’re maybe over the moon if you win 3-2.

“We know what we have to put into it to get the (eight-point) lead we have at the moment and to get these wins. There have been one or two games that were wins by a big margin but the rest were small margins, so we know how difficult it is to win a game.”

On the other side, Southampton’s manager Russell Martin expressed frustration over the defensive errors that led to their defeat, despite a strong performance.

“My overriding feeling is the frustration and disappointment of the goals we conceded, it’s just so poor,” lamented Martin.

“If (Liverpool) produce a moment of magic or score a brilliant team goal you can maybe accept it, but the quality of the goals we conceded is so bad. So bad.

“There was so much I enjoyed about the performance, the threat was much better in the final third and the attacking threat we had. But we needed to take the sting out of the game and manage it.”