Mohamed Salah scored a brace against Brighton on Wednesday to keep new champions Liverpool on track to finish the Premier League season with a record number of total points. Jordan Henderson scored the other goal as the Reds won 3-1. Manchester City, on the other hand, thrashed Newcastle United 5-0 at home.
After he was fed by Nabi Keita, Salah opened the scoring in just the sixth minute of the match to net his 22nd goal of the season. The Egyptian forward was in the heart of the matter again two minutes later. He provided Henderson who finished with a curling finish from the edge of the area to take Liverpool 2-0 up.
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Brighton seemed to have no answer whatsoever of Liverpool domination but managed to sneak one past the touring keeper Allison Becker through a powerful strike from Leandro Trossard in first-half stoppage-time.
But a header from Salah in the 76th minute from Andrew Robertson’s corner shattered the little hope for Brighton to equalise and ensured Liverpool’s first away win after five matches.
The result helped the Jurgen Klopp-managed side to their points tally to 92. They need nine more points from the remaining four matches to end the season with an all-time highest points tally, beating Manchester City’s 100 in 2017-18 season.
City, meanwhile, registered an emphatic 5-0 win over Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium. Gabriel Jesus, Riyad Mahrez, David Silva and Raheem Sterling scored for the Blues of Manchester, while Newcastle’s Federico Fernandez netted one in the wrong side.
Jesus drew the first blood when he steered Silva’s cross into the far corner in the 10th minute. The second came 11 minutes later when the assist king Kevin De Bruyne joined the party and fed Mahrez who produced a simple finish.
The third goal was a result of the stroke of luck as an attempted clearance by Matt Ritchie ricocheted off Fernandez into the backside of his own net.
Silva, who is all set to leave City at the end of the season, has time and again put on display his usual brilliance this season. He summed up why he would always remain a legend with a stupendous free-kick that took his team 4-0 up.
With one goal and one assist, he was already the best player of the night and he further proved his worth as he turned provider for Sterling in the stoppage time.
