Mohamed Salah spearheaded a second-half comeback for the visitors as Premier League leaders Liverpool defeated Southampton 3-2 on Sunday to stretch their lead over defending champions Manchester City by eight points.
In the second half, Salah struck twice to bring his league goal total to ten, but Liverpool was already behind 2-1.
Arne Slot’s team now has 31 points from 12 games, compared to City’s 23 after City dropped their third consecutive league game on Saturday, falling to Tottenham Hotspur 4-0.
The referee pointed to the spot after Andy Robertson tripped Tyler Dibling on the edge of the box, giving Southampton a lifeline.
VAR upheld the judgement despite the fact that the contact was made just outside the area. Caoimhin Kelleher stopped Adam Armstrong’s penalty kick, but the forward scored his third goal in Southampton’s last four games after jumping on the rebound.
Eleven minutes into the second half, Saints pulled off a brilliant counterattack when Dibling found Armstrong sprinting into space.
The forward saw Mateus Fernandes rushing, and the Portuguese midfielder scored to make it 2-1.
That prompted Liverpool to take action, and Salah took matters into his own hands when Darwin Nunez was unable to locate Luis Diaz at the far post for a straightforward tap-in.
Salah’s run through on goal onto a lob from Ryan Gravenberch gave Liverpool the equaliser.
The Egyptian winger saw Alex McCarthy come off his line and took one touch to allow the ball to roll past the sprinting custodian.
As the home team wasted their advantage, Southampton made a mistake that resulted in an opposing goal for the eighth time this season, more than any other Premier League team.
Then, in the 83rd minute, Southampton gave up a penalty due to a handball by Yukinari Sugawara, and Salah scored flawlessly from the penalty spot to give Liverpool the three points.
