Liverpool overcame cussed Southampton to march eight factors clear on the prime of the Premier League on Sunday after Manchester Metropolis’s beautiful 4-0 humbling at dwelling to Tottenham 24 hours earlier.
Ruben Amorim’s much-anticipated debut as Manchester United boss fell flat in a 1-1 draw at lowly Ipswich to depart the Pink Devils nonetheless languishing within the backside half of the desk.
AFP Sport appears at three speaking factors from the Premier League weekend:
Man Metropolis hit new low
Metropolis’s run of 4 consecutive defeats was already unprecedented in Pep Guardiola’s teaching profession and his dedication to a brand new contract this week couldn’t cease the rot for the champions.
Hoping for some dwelling comforts on their return to the Etihad Stadium, the place that they had not misplaced for 2 years, Metropolis had been blown away by a Spurs facet that had misplaced 2-1 at dwelling to Ipswich of their earlier outing.
Rodri paraded his Ballon d’Or in entrance of the Metropolis followers earlier than kick-off however the sight of the Spaniard was a painful reminder of how very important he has been to the success of Guardiola’s males.
Sidelined by a season-ending knee damage in September, Metropolis have since come off the rails, with Guardiola conceding his star-studded squad is now “fragile” and in a destructive psychological spiral.
Worse may very well be to return for Guardiola’s males with a frightening journey to Liverpool looming subsequent weekend.
Metropolis’s solely success at Anfield since 2003 got here behind closed doorways throughout coronavirus restrictions.
Salah retains Liverpool on observe
Gifted the prospect to increase their lead on the prime of the desk, Liverpool had been at risk of an sudden slip-up from Arne Slot’s juggernaut at St Mary’s.
The Reds’ hitherto miserly defence conceded twice both facet of half-time to permit bottom-of-the-table Saints to take a shock 2-1 lead.
Of their second of want, Mohamed Salah once more stepped ahead to proceed his excellent begin to the season and ship one other three factors for Liverpool.
The Egyptian pounced on an error from Alex McCarthy to equalise earlier than blasting in his twelfth aim of the season from the penalty spot to clinch the 3-2 win.
Uncertainty over the way forward for Salah, captain Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold stays the one cloud on the horizon for Slot.
However Salah, who reportedly earns a £350,000-a-week ($439,000) wage, is doing every part he can to show he’s deserving of one other deal regardless of turning 32 earlier this yr.
Amorim no fast repair
Ruben Amorim had a dream begin when Marcus Rashford put the guests in entrance at Portman Highway inside two minutes.
However any hope the Portuguese boss would have the ability to produce a fast repair for the fallen English giants was laid naked.
Amorim, who led Sporting Lisbon to 2 league titles in his homeland, reduce a pissed off determine as Ipswich had been the higher facet for lengthy spells.
Omari Hutchinson’s nice strike earned a deserved level for Kieran McKenna’s males, who stay within the relegation zone, and so they might simply have had a well-known victory to have fun however for some sensible saves from Andre Onana.
“My gamers had been pondering an excessive amount of within the sport. We had simply two days all collectively, we’d like extra,” stated Amorim after introducing his most well-liked 3-4-3 formation right away.
After not dropping a single level within the league with Sporting this season previous to his transfer to Outdated Trafford, the 39-year-old already has a style of the mammoth problem he faces to make United title contenders once more.
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