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Title favourite Liverpool rode its ‘luck’ in a touch-and-go win at Bournemouth, while Nottingham Forest has continued its charge towards a Champions League berth in a stunning display.
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REDS RIDE ‘LUCK’ AMID CONTROVERSY
Arne Slot admitted Liverpool rode their luck to go nine points clear at the top of the Premier League as Mohamed Salah inspired a controversial 2-0 win at Bournemouth on Sunday (AEDT).
Slot’s side took the lead in the first half when Salah netted with a penalty awarded after Cody Gakpo appeared to trip over his own feet rather than go down from Lewis Cook’s challenge.
Gakpo was barely onside as well, with Bournemouth left outraged after referee Darren England’s on-field decision was upheld by VAR.
Bournemouth’s David Brooks was denied an equaliser by an equally tight offside against Milos Kerkez in the build-up.
Salah added insult to injury for Bournemouth when he struck again late in the second half to extend Liverpool’s lead over second-placed Arsenal.
The Egypt forward has 21 goals from 23 league games this season, reaching the 20-mark for the fifth time in his English top-flight career.
Liverpool are unbeaten in 19 league games, winning 17 of their 23 top-flight matches in a remarkable run since Slot replaced Jurgen Klopp in the close-season.
Pursuing an English record-equalling 20th title and their first in the competition since 2020, Liverpool can sit back and wait to see if old rivals Manchester City do them a favour against Arsenal on Monday morning.
“If you want to win here maybe you need a bit of luck because the margins are so small,” Slot said.
“Our penalty was just not offside, their goal on 1-1 was on the margin offside, they hit the post twice.
“We had our chances as well but it was a close call for us to win this game. We weren’t unlucky, let’s put it this way.” Bournemouth had already beaten Manchester City, Arsenal and high-flying Nottingham Forest at home this season.
Slot acknowledged the Cherries had given Liverpool one of their toughest tests this term, with Antoine Semenyo and Marcus Tavernier both hitting the woodwork.
Semenyo was also denied by a superb save from Liverpool keeper Alisson Becker as Bournemouth’s 11-game unbeaten run in the league came to an end.
“I haven’t seen it back but one of my players is on a clear one-v-one with the goalkeeper and he’s fallen down,” Slot said of the Gakpo penalty incident.
“So either he makes a dive or they touch him. If they touch him that for me is a penalty.
“I can come up with three, four, five examples where we didn’t have the luck or the decision we deserved this season.
“That’s always the difficult thing in football, people will always say there’s that luck for Liverpool or for the one that is the one that is number one at the moment.” Trent Alexander-Arnold was forced off injured in the second half and Slot said he would be surprised if the defender is fit for Friday’s League Cup semi-final second leg against Tottenham.
Quadruple-chasing Liverpool will try to overturn a 1-0 first leg deficit when Ange Postecoglou’s struggling side visit Anfield.
FOREST PUTS SEVEN PAST GULLS
Chris Wood netted a hat-trick as Nottingham Forest thrashed Brighton 7-0 to reignite their charge towards next season’s Champions League at the City Ground on Sunday.
Morgan Gibbs-White, Neco Williams and Jota Silva were also on target after Lewis Dunk’s own goal opened the scoring in an astonishing performance from Nuno Espirito Santo’s men as they bounced back from a 5-0 defeat at Bournemouth last weekend.
Victory takes Forest level on points with second-placed Arsenal and opens up a seven-point cushion on sixth-placed Chelsea.
Fifth place in the Premier League this season is almost certain to be enough for Champions League qualification due to a strong start by English clubs in European competitions.
Two-time European Cup winners in 1979 and 1980 during the club’s heyday under Brian Clough, Forest last played in Europe back in 1996.
But a run of 10 wins from their last 12 games has put them well on course to end that two-decade wait for continental competition.
Forest became just the second side in Premier League history to respond to losing a game by five or more goals by winning by that margin.
“That is exactly what we wanted after last week, and exactly what the fans wanted,” said Gibbs-White.
“Last week was no way near our standards and we have been working on things to put it right all week in training and the lads were incredible today.
“We completely nullified everything they did and caught them a couple of times on the counter. We were clinical in the final third.” Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler set out with a bold selection that included five forwards in his starting 11.
However, that backfired massively as the Seagulls were wide open and punished by Forest’s frightening pace and precision going forward.