Liverpool thrash Leeds to keep top 4 hopes alive

Liverpool overcame their away day troubles in impressive style to run out 6-1 winners over ailing Leeds at Elland Road, leaving the Yorkshire side in the thick of one of the most open relegation scraps in recent seasons with only seven league games remaining.

Jurgen Klopp’s side, hoping to spark a late push for an unlikely top-four finish, had failed to score against a bottom-six side in their last six attempts, but there was no danger of history repeating itself after racing into a two-goal lead before the game’s halfway point.

Doubles from Mo Salah and Diogo Jota helped them move to within three points of sixth-placed Aston Villa, while Leeds remain just two points above the relegation places having shipped 11 goals in two home games.

There was an element of controversy about Liverpool’s opener, with creator Trent Alexander-Arnold appearing to use an arm to control the ball in the preamble, but VAR declined to intervene as the full-back laid the ball on a plate for Cody Gakpo to tap home at the back post.

Salah, scoring his eighth goal in six appearances against Leeds, then collected Jota’s incisive pass, using clever movement to escape the clutches of Pascal Struijk, before rifling emphatically beyond a helpless Illan Meslier.

Luis Sinisterra netted what turned out to be merely a consolation shortly after the interval, paving the way for a second-half Liverpool onslaught, which was spearheaded by the brilliance of Salah.

The Egyptian scored a majestic fourth shortly after Jota netted his first goal in over a year, with the Portuguese forward adding a second to his personal tally in the 73rd minute.

Liverpool wrapped up a stylish performance with a concluding goal in the 90th minute when Alexander-Arnold played in substitute Darwin Nunez, who finished neatly for his sixth Premier League strike of the campaign.

 

Source: Sky Sports