Virgil van Dijk scores late to ship Liverpool 13 factors clear and to the verge of clinching their twentieth league title.
Virgil van Dijk has spared Liverpool’s blushes with a late winner to beat West Ham 2-1 and edge to inside six factors of the Premier League title.
Andy Robertson’s personal objective 4 minutes from time on Sunday had given the lowly Hammers a deserved equaliser after Luis Diaz put Liverpool in entrance early on at Anfield.
Van Dijk, although, swiftly restored the result in present Liverpool retain the mentality of champions, even when they’re operating out of steam within the closing levels of the season.
Liverpool’s lead over second-placed Arsenal now stretches to 13 factors with six video games remaining.
A record-equalling twentieth English top-flight title might come as early as subsequent Sunday if Liverpool win at Leicester and Arsenal lose away to Ipswich.
The stage was set earlier than kickoff for Mohamed Salah to be the hero because the Egyptian was given an enormous ovation simply days after ending hypothesis over his future by signing a new two-year contract with Liverpool.
Salah began with the intention of constructing certain he was the main target of consideration as younger left again Ollie Scarles struggled to deal with the Premier League’s prime scorer.
The 32-year-old has failed to attain in seven of his final eight Liverpool video games as his sensational early season type has tailed off.
However he nonetheless managed to set a brand new Premier League file by registering his forty fifth objective or help of the marketing campaign, essentially the most ever in a 38-game season.
Salah outmuscled Scarles on the touchline and sprinted clear earlier than an inch-perfect cross for Diaz allowed the Colombian to faucet in for his fifteenth objective of the season on 18 minutes.
Defeat noticed West Ham slip to Seventeenth within the desk, however they’d a sequence of possibilities to take no less than some extent.
The fatigue that has seen Liverpool wrestle lately was in proof once more as they’d goalkeeper Alisson Becker to thank for shifting one other three factors nearer to the title.
Alisson brilliantly tipped Mohammed Kudus’s tried chip onto the bar in the course of the guests’ first severe assault.
Jarrod Bowen had West Ham’s greatest likelihood to stage when he did not beat Alisson when one-on-one with the Brazilian earlier than he turned away one other highly effective drive by Kudus.
When West Ham did lastly discover the online, it was thanks to 2 of Liverpool’s most skilled defenders.
Robertson and van Dijk each went for a similar ball, and the Scotland captain diverted Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s cross into his personal internet.
The objective out of the blue sparked Liverpool into life after a listless second half as a deflected effort from Diaz went over the bar.
Van Dijk took simply three minutes to make amends for the equaliser as he powered in Alexis Mac Allister’s nook.
The Dutchman kissed the badge in celebration, a possible nod to him reportedly being near following Salah in signing a brand new contract.
There was nonetheless extra drama to come back as Niclas Fullkrug hit the bar for West Ham in stoppage time.
However Liverpool held out to take one other step in direction of the title in Arne Slot’s first season in cost.
“These items [the own goal] sadly occur, and it was time to make it proper,” van Dijk informed Sky Sports activities after the match.
“On to the following one. I’m very completely happy to captain my a hundredth sport for Liverpool. It was an emotional day [being so close to the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster], and that was the primary focus. One step nearer to all our goals.
“Everybody is aware of how a lot I like this membership, and let’s see what subsequent week will seem like.”
Elsewhere within the Premier League on Sunday, relegation-threatened Ipswich City held Chelsea to a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge, denying the hosts the prospect to inject new momentum into their bid for a spot in subsequent season’s Champions League.
The draw pushed Chelsea into the final of the 5 Champions League spots however one level forward of Newcastle United, who had been as a consequence of play Manchester United afterward Sunday and have an additional sport in hand. Ipswich remained in 18th place and nearly sure to return to the second tier subsequent season.
In the meantime, an error-strewn efficiency by Tottenham Hotspur noticed them lose 4-2 away to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, their fourth loss in six Premier League video games, deepening coach Ange Postecoglou’s disaster however easing the hosts’ relegation worries.
Wolves made essentially the most of West Ham United’s 2-1 loss away to Liverpool to go sixteenth within the desk on 35 factors, forward of the Hammers on objective distinction and 14 factors away from Seventeenth-placed Ipswich with six video games to play.