BOURNEMOUTH, England : Mohamed Salah delivered the points for Liverpool but manager Arne Slot was most impressed with his team’s grit as they survive one of their toughest tests of the season in a 2-0 victory at Bournemouth on Saturday.
Egyptian Salah tucked away a first-half penalty to edge his side in front and then gave them some much-needed breathing space with an exquisite second goal to go sixth on the all-time Premier League scoring charts ahead of Frank Lampard with 178.
Before, in between and even after Salah’s goals, however, Liverpool had to do the hard yards against a Bournemouth side who had not been beaten for 11 games in the league.
The hosts twice hit the woodwork and had a goal disallowed and Liverpool were forced to dig deep to extend their unbeaten league run to 19 and move nine points clear at the top.
“It was a battle, but I knew it would be. After our home game when we were 3-0 up, they came at us with a great mentality and quality,” Slot told reporters, referring to his side’s home win when Bournemouth had 19 goal attempts.
“They have picked up wins against so many good teams and it’s not by luck. They are intense, they have quality and it was always going to be very hard.
“Only a few (opponents) have been as tough as this. When it comes to running, they are so high up and if you want to have any chance you have to compete in terms of running, fighting, winning duels and that’s what the players did.”
Slot picked out Salah and goalkeeper Alisson as players who lead by example.
“If you want to win here against a team that is so competitive then you need a team performance and work-rate. That’s what we have and you need some quality individuals that make the difference for you,” the Dutchman said.
“That goal of Mo was absolute quality and the saves Alisson made as well. But it was not only them, the way our centre backs were defending again today was also impressive.”
With 15 games left, Liverpool are closing in on the title but Slot refuses to think too far ahead.
“What I want from them and what they want from each other is that they fight in every single game from the first until the last second to get the maximum result and that’s what the fans expect from them playing for this club,” he said.
The only worry for Slot was an injury to Trent Alexander-Arnold that looks like ruling him out of Thursday’s League Cup semi-final second leg at home to Tottenham Hotspur when Liverpool will try to recover from a 1-0 deficit.
The full-back was replaced after 70 minutes with a knock.
“The situation was that he said to me, ‘You have to take me off’ and he sat on the floor and we took him off. He felt something, I can’t tell you exactly what and how bad it is of course because we are one hour after the game, but it is never a good sign if a player is asking for a substitution.
“I would be surprised if he plays on Thursday, but let’s hope he is back with us as soon as possible.”
