Liverpool: Mo Salah netted his 100th Premier League goal as Liverpool caught up with Manchester United and Chelsea at the top of the points table with a 3-0 win Sunday over Leeds United. The two other goals were scored by Fabinho in the 50th minute and Sadio Mane in added on time. Liverpool now have 10 points from four matches, the same as both Chelsea and Manchester United.
Salah has now scored 98 goals for Liverpool while the other two came during his short tenure with Chelsea. He certainly is a clinical finisher for Liverpool. The ball was set up for Salah by Trent Alexander-Arnold from the right with a precision pass that Salah just had to tap in after evading his marker.
The Reds were not at their clinical and flowing best in the game. However, they did not need to do so as the Leeds defence was always under pressure. Had Mane not missed two golden chances in the first half, the game would have been over for good before the interval itself. One of them came midway into the first session. Salah set the ball up for Mane, but the latter smashed the ball wide from hand-shaking distance.
Liverpool made the issue safe five minutes after the interval. Again it was Alexander-Arnold who created problems for the Leeds defence. His floater landed in the box and Fabinho managed to poke the ball in on the second attempt. It was surprising that he got so much time as the opposition defenders stood rooted.
Mane finally made amends for the misses during added on time, as Jordan Henderson played a one-two with Thiago before finding Mane unmarked. Mane side-stepped a defender with a half turn, before shooting home from close. He smiled sheepishly after the goal, probably remembering the misses earlier.
Even though it was not the performance that Liverpool can be very proud of, they did what mattered the most and that is getting three important points.
Earlier in a match played late Saturday evening, Chelsea continued their good run with a 3-0 victory over Aston Villa. Romelu Lukaku continued his good form with a brace while Mateo Kovacic had one at the back of the net in the 49th minutes. Chelsea were completely the dominant side and controlled proceedings right from the start. Had they conducted all the chances that came their way, they could have easily pumped in more than half-a-dozen.
