Football – Liverpool’s Hugo Ekitike bagged a double to secure a 2-0 Premier League victory over Brighton & Hove Albion yesterday while talisman Mohamed Salah, whose future at the Merseyside team is uncertain, recorded a landmark assist on an emotional afternoon.
Arne Slot’s men climbed provisionally to sixth in the table on 26 points after 16 matches, seven behind leaders Arsenal, while Brighton are now three points off Liverpool in ninth.
Close-season signing Ekitike fired the hosts into a first-minute lead 47 seconds in – the quickest goal in the league this season – after Yankuba Minteh’s dreadful attempted clearance. Joe Gomez headed the ball back in and it dropped perfectly for Ekitike, whose shot on the turn beat goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.
Salah, whose future was plunged into doubt following his scathing criticism of Slot and the club a week ago, came on to a standing ovation and loud applause as a 26th-minute substitute after an injury to Gomez.
The 33-year-old, who leaves for the Africa Cup of Nations tomorrow, was heavily involved from the moment he stepped on the pitch and got an assist in the 60th minute when his pinpoint corner to the back post found Ekitike who headed home for Liverpool’s first league goal from a corner this season.
With the assist, Salah claimed the outright record for the most goal involvements for a single team in Premier League history with 277, passing Wayne Rooney’s 276 with Manchester United.
Salah looked emotional as he applauded the fans after the final whistle.
Liverpool’s much needed victory marked back-to-back wins after they beat Inter Milan 1-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday.
l Arsenal consolidated top spot in the Premier League but needed a huge slice of luck in the shape of two own goals to secure a nervy 2-1 win against rock-bottom Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Arsenal were not at their ruthless best and thought they had blown their chance when Wolves equalised through Tolu Arokodare with normal time almost up, but Yerson Mosquera headed the ball into his own net under pressure from Gabriel Jesus to rescue victory for the hosts.
Arsenal took the lead with 20 minutes to go when a Bukayo Saka corner bounced off the underside of the crossbar and off the back of unfortunate Wolves keeper Sam Johnstone into the net.
It was a quick reboot for the North London side after seeing an 18-game unbeaten run broken last weekend at Aston Villa and leaves them on 36 points, five ahead of Manchester City and six ahead of Aston Villa, who both play today.
l Chelsea beat Everton 2-0 to return to the top four as well-worked first-half goals from talisman Cole Palmer and France fullback Malo Gusto stemmed a run of four games in all competitions without a victory.
Palmer, back in action this month after missing most of the season through injury, drilled the ball between goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and the near post after Gusto’s pinpoint pass.
Gusto switched from provider to scorer in the 46th minute when he poked a Pedro Neto cross home after the Portuguese winger outpaced marker Vitalii Mykolenko.
l Fulham eased away from the Premier League relegation zone with Harry Wilson inspiring them to a 3-2 win at struggling Burnley – the London club’s first win at Turf Moor in 35 attempts.
Not since 1951 had Fulham returned from Burnley with a win but they ended that sequence while inflicting a seventh successive league defeat on Burnley who are in deep trouble.
It is now Burnley’s worst run of losses in the top flight since 1895 and pressure is mounting on manager Scott Parker.
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