Is Liverpool back in title contest?

Liverpool may be back for a possible title defense after moving up to sixth in the Premier League, seven points behind league leaders Arsenal.

The Reds followed up their Champions League success at Internazionale in midweek with another victory and clean sheet,

Arsenal hosted Wolves in a top-bottom clash at the Emirates late on Saturday.

Liverpool beat Brighton 2-0 at Anfield on Saturday to move two points behind the top four and a direct Champions League spot.

Hugo Ekitike’s brace lights up Anfield on a day the Reds were eager to record a back-to-back win.

Ekitike responded very by scoring the fastest goal of the Premier League season with just 46 seconds on the clock following a poor Yankuba Minteh clearance pounced on by Joe Gomez’s header to tee up the Frenchman.

However, Gomez was taken off in the 26th minutes after he sustained an injury.

Arne Slot, Liverpool’s head coach introduced Mohamed Salah in place of the injured Englishman.

Salah, who had a clash with the club last weekend follwing Liverpool’s 3-3 draw at Leeds United impressed off the bench on his Liverpool return after being removed from selection.

The Anfield faithful greeted their Egyptian king with big cheers, indicating no ill feeling over his interview at Leeds – they just wanted their talisman scoring again.

And the Egyptian didnt disapppoint as he leovided the assist for Liverpool’s winner in his final appearance for Liverpool before teaming up with his national team for the AFCON.

Salah ends a run of three league games without a goal involvement by setting up Ekitike’s towering header with a corner in the second half.

Elitike has now scored twice for the second league game running. He also recorded a brace last weekend against Leeds United.

Salah stopped after the game to appreciate the home fans, singing his name all afternoon, but gave little away as to whether this could be his farewell game.

The Liverpool talisman and legend has said goodbye for now, as he beads to Morocco for the AFCON. But his future is expected to dominate for weeks ahead.

However, Brighton’s Diego Gomez failed to convert two big chances to equalise either side of the break and was fortunate still to be on the pitch for the second, a sitter at the back post, having survived a VAR check for a high challenge on Florian Wirtz.

Liverpool made a potentially difficult afternoon look easy as they extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to five games to overtake Brighton in the table as they drop down to ninth after a third game without a win.

Elitike post match reaction

The 23-year-old Frenchman said its been a great week and urged his fellow Reds “Let’s continue,” after his two goals on Saturday made it back-to-back wins for Liverpool this week.

On the afternoon’s work…

I wouldn’t say perfect, because I know could score more today. But obviously the most important thing was to win in front of our fans. So it’s a good day at work, yeah.

On Liverpool’s quick start in the game…

The ball came quick, I tried to be ready. Obviously when you start a game, you don’t expect a ball to score to come in the first minute. But I try to be always ready, and that’s good to start the game with 1-0.

On his second goal, a header from a Mohamed Salah corner…

Yeah, he gave me a great ball – I just had to be in a good place. That’s what I did and [it was] easy to finish.

Read also: Arsenal move 5 points clear as City play Crystal Palace away on Sunday afternoon

Arne Slot post match interview

On the performance and appearing ‘more solid defensively’…

That’s funny, this is what people now say if you win 2-0 and then all of a sudden we were solid. But I think we conceded in one game more than we did in the last four games. But now all of a sudden it’s solid because we won the game.

And when we had a draw or are conceding in the last minute against Leeds, I assume that people weren’t as positive as after this game. But we had a lot of chances as well. In my opinion, we are starting to play better and better on the ball as well.

And from the last five games we’ve played, we kept three clean sheets and that is something to build on, especially after conceding four against PSV [Eindhoven] and three against Nottingham Forest.

On Salah’s return to the squad and his performance…

I think the reason why he wasn’t in Milan was his interview and the question is always – and everybody has a different opinion about that – should he be once, twice, three times, four times, four months, 12 years… every manager makes [a] different decision in that.

He wasn’t involved in the game against Milan, I spoke to him yesterday and usually I never say anything about what we talk about, I am not going to make an exception now but I think actions speak louder than what has been said.

He was in the squad again and when I had to make my first substitution, I brought him in and he performed as I think every fan – including me – would like him to perform today.

On whether he ‘hopes Salah comes back after AFCON and has that kind of performance again’…

Yeah. I think he’s a Liverpool player and the moment he’s there I like to use him when we need him. Today he didn’t start as he did a few times before not, but in the one-and-a-half season before he started I think every game.

Today when he came in, like I just said, he had a performance like you would want him to give. I think he was close to another assist, I think he was shocked to see Virgil [van Dijk] next to him in that long sprint! He was close to scoring when Fede [Chiesa] almost assisted him.

He was a threat and that’s very important because if you play with attackers, you’re hoping they are a threat to the other team. Hugo was that as well and Florian [Wirtz] was that also.

Seyi John Salau is a BusinessDay Correspondent with interest in development journalism, which tells stories that connect the people, brands, and the government. SeyiJohn is also a media professional with BSc, Mass Communition (ACU); Masters of School Media (MSM, Ibadan) & MSc, Mass Communication (Caleb).

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