Mohamed Salah has aired his relief at seeing Liverpool get back to winning ways at Anfield, with a first success on home soil since December 16 secured when edging out Aston Villa 2-1.
It looked like being another frustrating afternoon for the Reds when they fell behind to Ollie Watkins’ opener, while Roberto Firmino saw a controversial offside call deny him a leveller.
Salah eventually restored parity just before the hour mark, before Trent Alexander-Arnold crashed in a dramatic stoppage-time winner, and Jurgen Klopp’s side can breathe a little easier after ending an eight-game winless run.
What has been said?
Salah told Sky Sports after helping to pick up three priceless points: “Finally! It was a great game, tough game but we won the game and that was the most important thing.
“We have lost a couple of games here and mentally it was like 'oh no, not again' but we did a good job second-half.
“It's hard not to win at Anfield for a couple of games, we also missed a couple of chances in the first half and we were thinking 'not again' but the second half we managed to play good.
“It's really important to win. I think there are only seven games left? So it's really important.
“We want to play Champions League next year but we just need to focus on each game and try and win them all and hopefully, we can be in that fourth place.”
What about the match-winner?
Getty/Goal
Alexander-Arnold has endured a tough couple of weeks after being left out of the England squad and making a costly mistake in Tuesday's 3-1 Champions League defeat to Real Madrid.
The 22-year-old has never looked to hide, though, and offered the perfect response to is doubters when curling home a vital late strike against Villa.
Salah said of the confident right-back: “I think he just needs to push himself. He's been training well and he's played really well the last couple of games.
“He just needs to try and keep focused - don't listen to anyone, just try as hard as you can and it will come.”
The bigger picture
Liverpool kept themselves in the hunt for a top-four finish with a much-needed win and will welcome Real to Anfield on Wednesday with confidence restored.
They have seven games left to take in during the 2020-21 Premier League campaign, with the reigning champions looking to finish with a flourish after experiencing a testing season for all concerned.
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