Home team Southampton surprised Liverpool by taking the lead early in the second half with a spectacular counter-attack. But defensive mistakes created the opportunity for Mo Salah to score 2 goals for Liverpool to successfully reverse the situation.

Mo Salah celebrates victory with Darwin Nunez.

Liverpool controlled the game in the first half thanks to their attacking line constantly pressing and shooting at goal, but shots from Szoboszlai, Cody Gakpo and Mo Salah all failed to get past goalkeeper Alx McCarthy. It was not until the 30th minute that Liverpool opened the scoring thanks to a mistake from the Saints’ defence when a defender cleared the ball straight to Szoboszlai, and the Hungarian midfielder immediately swiped the ball from the edge of the box into the far corner, hitting the post and going into the net.

But Liverpool’s plan to suppress them went awry when the midfield failed to stop Tyler Dibling and the 18-year-old’s breakaway was forced to trip Robertson on the edge of the area, conceding a penalty. Kelleher saved Armstrong’s spot-kick, but was left helpless as the Southampton striker fired home.

During the first half, Liverpool controlled the ball 67%, shot 11 times (7 on target) compared to Southampton’s 4 shots on target.

Liverpool felt the worst coming early in the second half when Southampton took the lead with a classic counter-attack. The ball was fed to the right wing, where Tyler Dibling turned and passed the ball into the middle, Armstrong took a few steps and also twisted the Liverpool defence before passing to Mateus Fernandes who tucked it into the corner of the net. At this point, Liverpool’s attack suddenly faded, not even able to progress the ball.

But in a deadlocked situation, Salah appeared to save the team. In the 65th minute, the home team’s defense set an offside trap but Salah cleverly escaped and chipped the ball into the net when goalkeeper McCarthy rushed out and missed.

In the 83rd minute, the home team continued to suffer the situation of “attacking and defending” when defender Yukinari Sugawara blocked the ball with his chest, only for the ball to bounce off his hand. Salah calmly kicked the penalty to bring home 3 valuable points for Liverpool.

The win gives Liverpool 31 points from 12 games, eight points ahead of second-placed Manchester City. Coach Arne Slot has found his 10th win in 12 Premier League games (D1 L1), the fastest any manager has achieved at the start of his career in the competition, equalling Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti.