LONDON — Mohamed Salah’s opener for Liverpool against Chelsea has continued the forward’s remarkable record against the English Premier League’s top teams.
Salah’s penalty and a decisive strike from Curtis Jones secured a 2-1 win, making it 10 victories in 11 matches since manager Arne Slot took over.
It was the Egyptian’s fifth goal against former side Chelsea in Premier League and saw Salah climb into joint-ninth place among the Premier League’s all-time top scorers, alongside Jermain Defoe (162).
Only eight players in Premier League history have scored more goals than Salah. The Egyptian winger ranks fifth in league history in terms of penalties taken.
Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson briefly equalised in the second half, but the London club suffered their first league loss since an opening weekend defeat to Manchester City.
With this victory, Liverpool has 21 points from eight games, one more than second-placed Manchester City who beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1. Chelsea stayed in sixth place with 14 points.
Liverpool’s only defeat under Slot came to Nottingham Forest following September’s international break.
“The win is the most important thing. I was involved a lot but I’m happy that we won,” said Jones before praising Salah for finding him for the winning goal.
“There’s been times when I have arrived in the box and it is a first-time finish. As soon as Mo had the ball I made the run, but it bounced so I had to have a touch, and then thankfully it went in.”
The Dutchman responded by this time leaving all of his South American internationals – Alexis Mac Allister, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez – on the bench after their exertions in recent days across the Atlantic.
The decision to hand Jones just his second league start of the season proved an inspired one as the England international won Liverpool’s penalty and scored the decisive goal.
Chelsea was fortunate still to have 11 men on the field after just six minutes when Tosin Adarabioyo hauled down Diogo Jota, AFP reported.
The Portugal international was still a long way from goal but the incident was almost identical to the one that saw Arsenal defender William Saliba sent-off in a 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth.
Having survived that scare, Chelsea settled nicely into their rhythm and pushed the home side back by dominating possession.
However, Liverpool’s pace on the break was a constant threat and Chelsea was caught out when Salah fed Jones, who was chopped down by Levi Colwill.
Within three minutes of the restart for the second half, the Blues were back level as VAR played another helping hand for the visitors.
Jackson latched onto Moises Caicedo’s through ball and coolly slotted past Caoimhin Kelleher for his fifth goal in eight Premier League games.
The Senegalese striker was ruled offside on the field, but was shown to be played on by Ibrahima Konate on replay.
Liverpool took just three minutes to restore their lead as Jones timed his run perfectly to control and flick in Salah’s cross.
Chelsea forced Slot’s men to defend their lead for the final 40 minutes but struggled to create clear-cut chances for the equaliser until seven minutes of stoppage time.
Renato Vega headed over Cole Palmer’s free-kick before Christopher Nkunku failed to get a telling touch to Pedro Neto’s teasing cross.
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ loss to Manchester City was a tough one to swallow for boss Gary O’Neil, who said the contentious injury-time goal that left them bottom of the Premier League was similar to one that went against his team last season.
With Wolves on the verge of securing a much-needed point by holding City to a 1-1 draw, John Stones headed in a 95th-minute corner to seal the champions a 2-1 win and condemn the hosts to their seventh defeat in eight league outings this season.
The last-gasp goal was checked by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for a possible offside by Bernardo Silva in front of the goalkeeper. It was decided that Silva did not block keeper Jose Sa’s line of vision.
“I am trying to remain calm,” said O’Neil, who was livid on the touchline after the call. “I have been involved in a few of those and not had many go in our favour so was expecting that outcome.
“There is some grey area that can go either way and once it was like that, I wasn’t confident it would go our way,” O’Neil added according to Reuters.
O’Neil said it was similar to an injury time goal Wolves had disallowed in a 2-1 loss to West Ham late last season.
“We sent an image to referees showing with proof that the West Ham keeper could see the ball, but the reason was given was the player was in close proximity. The same argument could be said here but we just have to accept it,” O’Neil said.
“I would rather not discuss it because it will still sound like I am making excuses. Whatever decision they make, I respect,” he added.
“We don’t want to cross that line, but it did feel like a harsh one. I am proud of the players though. An unbelievable effort and we gave ourselves a great chance. I am gutted for the players that we had to leave with nothing.”
The loss left Wolves last in the table on just a point.
Mikel Arteta admitted Arsenal’s shock 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth was an “accident waiting to happen” as William Saliba’s red card condemned them to a first Premier League loss since April.
Arteta’s title-chasing side played for an hour with 10 men after French defender Saliba was dismissed for a professional foul on Evanilson.
Referee Rob Jones initially showed Saliba a yellow card but the punishment was upgraded to a red after VAR intervened.
It was the third time Arsenal had a player sent off in the league this season after Declan Rice saw red against Brighton and Leandro Trossard was dismissed at Manchester City.
Arteta conceded the disciplinary problems were making it harder to win, with Arsenal taking just two points from the three games played with 10 men.
“It’s very difficult to win in the Premier League with 10 men for 60 minutes. It’s just an accident waiting to happen. We have had to go through it in three games and that cost us the game,” he said.
“We had the big chance and the moment in the game to score and have a different result and then we conceded a goal.
“We try to stick to the rules. The three red cards have been different ones and three very different outcomes.”
Beaten in the league for the first time since Aston Villa’s 2-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium last season, Arsenal’s loss cost them the chance to go above Liverpool at the top of the table.
Arteta acknowledged his third-placed team was below their best for long periods at the Vitality Stadium.
“The team tried, the effort with 10 men was fantastic but today it was not enough to win the game,” he said.
“It took us a while to understand what we had do in the first 15 minutes, then we grabbed the game but after 30 minutes the game changed.”
Arsenal midfielder Rice was even more honest in his assessment of the lethargic performance.
Trossard’s wayward pass was the trigger for Saliba’s dismissal as the centre-back was forced to make a panicked tug on Evanilson.
It was a careless mistake by Trossard and Rice said Arsenal must stamp out that kind of blunder if they want to mount another title challenge.
“We’ve kicked ourselves in the foot three times in eight games and we got away with it at home to Brighton and away at Manchester City. Bournemouth kept probing and made it 2-0,” Rice said.
“I’m proud of the players for fighting, even with 10 men, but the naivety, we need to stop making mistakes because you want 11 players for 90 minutes and that’s what wins you football matches.
