Staff Reporter.
Liverpool overcame Aston Villa’s resistance thanks to Mohamed Salah’s second-half penalty in their Premier League clash at Anfield on Saturday.
The game marked the first return of former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard to Anfield since he left the club in 2015 and his Villa team put up an impressive fight against Jurgen Klopp’s side.
Villa frustrated their hosts for the majority of the game and, for a while, it looked like they may be the first team to stop Liverpool scoring since April.
However, Salah had the chance to score from the penalty spot on 67 minutes following a coming together with Villa’s Tyrone Mings which referee Michael Oliver deemed worthy of a penalty.
The Egypt international dusted himself down to score his 21st goal of the campaign and give Liverpool a deserved lead.
Meanwhile Chelsea avoided conceding further ground in the Premier League title race with a dramatic victory over Leeds United at Stamford Bridge.
Raphina scored a first half penalty to give Marcelo Bielsa’s side an early lead but a Mason Mount strike and a Jorginho spot-kick appeared to have given Chelsea the victory. Joe Gelhardt struck late on to bring the sides level, before Jorginho’s late penalty.
It was an important win for Chelsea and their title hopes after they lost to West Ham United and drew with Manchester United recently.
Elsewhere Arsenal boosted their Champions League qualification hopes as they cruised past Southampton at the Emirates Stadium despite captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang being dropped from the squad.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta dropped captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from the matchday squad due to a “disciplinary breach.”
Before kickoff, Arteta was tight-lipped as he explained that Aubameyang’s absence was due to a “disciplinary breach”, with Alexandre Lacazette starting on his own up front.
The victory leaves Arsenal fifth on 26 points, while Southampton are 16th on 16 points.