Liverpool 3-1 Leicester: Cody Gakpo, Curtis Jones and Mohamed Salah on target as Reds go seven points clear | Football news

Liverpool moved seven points clear at the top of the Premier League table with a 3-1 win over Leicester at Anfield.

Chelsea’s second-placed defeat by Fulham earlier on Boxing Day gave Arne Slott’s side the chance to extend their lead at the summit and they took it with both hands – albeit after an early scare.

Leicester took a shock lead in the sixth minute when Jordan Ayew turned and found the bottom corner with a deflected effort from Stephy Mavididi’s low cross, but the hosts came roaring back.

Cody Gakpo equalized when he cut inside from the left and curled home a superb effort from the edge of the box in first-half stoppage time, with Liverpool then going ahead when Curtis Jones swept home Alexis Mac Allister’s cut-back early on. in the second period.

Mohamed Salah, who hit the crossbar in the first half, added some gloss to the result late on when he drove into the box from the right and steered a superb finish past Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk for his 16th Premier League goal of the season.

Liverpool’s lead at the top will be cut to six points if third-placed Arsenal beat Ipswich at the Emirates Stadium on Friday night, but Arne Slott’s side still have a game in hand, putting them in an even more dominant position in the title race.

Leicester, meanwhile, slip below Wolves into 18th place, a third consecutive Premier League loss that leaves them a point from safety.

Castle: You saw how good we are

Liverpool boss Arne Castle:

“It sounds strange but I thought we had a really good start. We threatened them for six minutes but then a moment where we underestimated a situation and it immediately led to a chance and a goal and we have to work hard to get back into the game.

“In the end I wouldn’t say we were lucky but it really helped to score before the break because we went 1-0 down and it was a game before we made it 3-1. So think I, you saw how good we really are.”

Regarding the title being lost to Liverpool, he added: “I don’t see it that way. It’s a bit of a boring answer but as a manager you go game by game because you know how many games you still have to play play and you see especially in the Premier League results that you didn’t expect because teams have so much quality.

“If it was the Eredivisie, maybe it would feel like that, but not in this competition.”

Salah on target again

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah to Amazon Prime:

“It’s a good result. They were better in the first half, in the way they prepare, they were very good.

“The way they were in front of the field, it was quite tough for us, especially in the first half, but we managed to score three goals and it’s a great result.

“(Gakpos) was a great goal and it gave us confidence in the second half to try and win the game. It’s something he’s practiced a lot in training. It was a great finish from him.”

On his own goal, Salah added: “It’s great. The most important thing for me is that the team wins. Hopefully we win the Premier League and I have a big impact. We just have to focus and keep going like this.”

Cody Gakpo said of his goal: “We practice it a lot and they always say practice makes perfect, so we keep practicing.

“Obviously we went behind, we had to fight to get level and we got some good opportunities. I got the ball from (Mac Allister) and I saw some space and I just did what we do on the training.

“We know the qualities we have, but it’s not nice to fall behind. We’re working on that so we don’t slouch at the start.”

Salah reaches milestone – Opta stats

• Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has been involved in 27 goals in 17 Premier League games this season (16 goals, 11 assists), just one less than he was in 32 appearances last term (18 goals, 10 assists).
• His goal to make it 3-1 was his 100th home goal in the Premier League. He is the eighth player to reach this milestone.
• Making his 250th Premier League start for Liverpool, Mohamed Salah became the fourth player to register 250 Premier League goals involved for a single team (171 goals, 79 assists), joining Wayne Rooney for Man Utd (276), Ryan Giggs for Man Utd (271) and Harry Kane for Tottenham (259).

Analysis: Can anyone stop Liverpool?

When the final whistle blew, Ayew’s opening goal felt like a distant memory. Remarkably, Leicester did not have a single shot after the 10th minute of the match.

Such is Liverpool’s ability to stifle their opponents. They kept their cool after falling behind, even as they struggled to find their rhythm. But Salah is not their only game-changer.

Gakpo is another. His equalizer was a thing of beauty and the result never looked in doubt after that. Liverpool were in front shortly after the break and of course Salah had to get his goal too. In the end it felt like as easy a win as Liverpool could have asked for.

It’s almost four months since they last lost a game. The reverse September against Nottingham Forest looks more and more like an aberration. Recent draws against Newcastle and Fulham also felt uncharacteristic, but Liverpool are back in their flow now.

Their unbeaten run now stands at 22 games in all competitions. They will be top at the turn of the year, regardless of the result against West Ham on Sunday. They will most likely peak in May as well. It will be difficult to see any other result.

Van Nistelrooy: Thanks to my team

Leicester boss Ruud van Nistelrooy:

“We had the start we wanted. We knew we had to be compact, we had to defend well, defend crosses well, which we did and with a few breaks we were dangerous. We were in the game and 2 -1 had the chance with Patson Daka.

“Those are the moments, in these kind of games you have to take them. But credit to the team, we were competitive and we were in the game for a long time.

“It’s up to us to keep developing, to keep doing what we’re doing, to keep creating game plans for every opponent and to think how we can win the game. The players know what they have to do do, and they acted on it, and today it was the maximum possible.

The history of the match in statistics…

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