LONDON — Liverpool boss Arne Slot lavished praise on the “unbelievable” Mohamed Salah after the Egyptian star netted his 250th goal for the club, guiding the Premier League champions to a morale-boosting 2-0 win over Aston Villa.
Salah capitalized on a costly blunder by World Cup-winning goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez to open the scoring, before Ryan Gravenberch sealed the victory that ended Liverpool’s four-game league skid and lifted them to third in the standings.
The milestone strike crowned a commanding display from Salah, who looked back to his brilliant best. “It’s huge,” Slot said of Salah’s latest Liverpool milestone.
“It is almost unbelievable if you score 250 goals, let alone 250 goals for one club. You don’t see that much in football any more. Apart from the goal he had a very good performance.
“When we had to play long, we mainly played to him and he held the ball and the team could come to him. What I liked was that he also helped the team defensively as well. After the first goal he was helping Virgil [van Dijk] around the halfway line. I liked his performance tonight. For him to score is not special but 250 is special,” Slot added.
Elsewhere, Manchester United was held to a 2-2 draw at struggling Nottingham Forest and Chelsea won 1-0 at London rivals Tottenham.
After losing their previous four league games, and six of their last seven in all competitions, spluttering Liverpool finally showed signs of life at Anfield.
Arne Slot’s troubled team were gifted their opening goal in first half stoppage-time when Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez’s wayward pass was intercepted by Salah, who slotted into the empty net for his fifth goal this season.
The Egypt forward’s milestone 250th goal in all competitions for Liverpool was followed by Ryan Gravenberch’s 58th minute deflected strike, wrapping up the Reds’ first league victory since they beat Everton on September 20.
Liverpool’s win, which leaves them third but seven points behind Arsenal, was well-timed ahead of a crucial week featuring clashes with Real Madrid and Manchester City.
Arsenal eased past Burnley 2-0, creating a five-game winning streak in the league to position themselves as firm favourites to end their painful two-decade wait to be crowned English champions.
Viktor Gyokeres headed the Gunners ahead following a Declan Rice corner in the first half at Turf Moor for his first league goal since mid-September – yet more joy for the set-piece specialists.
England midfielder Rice himself headed home to double the visitors’ lead in the 35th minute and put them in total control.
“The first half was exceptional – we scored two goals and gave nothing away,” Gunners boss Mikel Arteta said according to AFP.
“That was the platform. We had to make a few changes and didn’t have that much control in the second half. Defending was exceptional again, we didn’t give anything.”
Arsenal, who have now won nine games in a row in all competitions, have enviable options in attack but their team is built on a rock-solid defence that has conceded just three league goals in 10 games this season.
Manchester United, seeking their fourth straight league win, led 1-0 at the City Ground courtesy of Casemiro’s first-half opener.
But Forest, who had not scored a league goal since September 20, roared back after the break as their confidence flooded back.
Morgan Gibbs-White headed the home side level in the 48th minute before Nicolo Savona tapped in just two minutes later to complete a dramatic turnaround.
But Amad Diallo levelled with a sweet volley in the 81st minute to rescue a point for United, who have been much improved in recent weeks after a poor start to the season.
Ruben Amorim, marking a year since his appointment as United manager, was disappointed to drop points but encouraged by his team’s mentality.
“I feel in the recent past if we had had this situation (from 1-0 up to 2-1 down) we would have struggled so much more than today,” he said.
“My feeling is we played well but we dropped a little bit of energy. When we have the full energy, we are the better team.”
Forest, who last month appointed Sean Dyche as manager to replace the sacked Ange Postecoglou, remain in the relegation zone, four points behind 17th-placed Burnley.
Chelsea maintained their impressive record against Tottenham, winning 1-0 courtesy of a goal from Joao Pedro for a fifth straight Premier League victory over the north Londoners.
Enzo Maresca’s fifth-placed side trail fourth-placed Tottenham on goal difference.
Rock-bottom Wolves, reduced to 10 men in the first half following the dismissal of Emmanuel Agbadou, are eight points from safety after a miserable 3-0 defeat at Fulham.
Crystal Palace beat Brentford 2-0 and Brighton pummelled Leeds 3-0.
