Salah saves Liverpool with thrilling 23-minute win Liverpool achieved a difficult victory at home to Nottingham Forest (3-2), on Saturday evening, in the 32nd round of the English Premier League.
The goalless draw dominated the meeting, until the excitement exploded between the two teams in less than 23 minutes, as the goals of Liverpool were scored by Diogo Jota "two goals" in the minutes (47 and 55) and Mohamed Salah (70), while the goals of Nottingham Nico Williams (51) and Morgan Gibbs White (67).
Liverpool rose to seventh place with 50 points, 3 points behind Tottenham "fifth", while Nottingham fell to 19th place with 27 points.
Early threat from Salah and JackpoolLiverpool
The first real threat of the game came in the fifth minute, when Jakpo penetrated from the left side into the depth, unleashing a weak shot that went past the post.
Salah worked his way down the right flank, before passing towards Jakpo in front of goal, but Nyakhat intervened in time in the 18th minute.
Liverpool almost opened the scoring in the 27th minute, when Alexander-Arnold took a free-kick, Van Dijk rose to it and followed it up with a header, but Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas tipped it away.
Alexander-Arnold took a corner kick in the 31st minute, which caused a dribble in front of the Nottingham goal, to reach Jacpo, who shot the ball to be removed by Williams from the goal line.
Van Dijk's header bounced off the Nottingham defence, with the ball reaching Salah, who fired a shot wide of target in the 35th minute.
Jota missed a chance in the 39th minute, when he received the ball from a free kick by Alexander-Arnold, but he lost the net despite standing near the goal line.
Battle of Objectives
Liverpool looked better at the start of the second half, opening the scoring in the 47th minute, when a corner by Alexander-Arnold bounced off the chest of Nyakhat, to reach Fabinho, who headed it towards Jota, and the latter only followed it up with a header in the goal.
But Nottingham's response came quickly in the 51st minute, when Gibbs White launched a counter-attack, passed to Williams, and the former Liverpool player hit the ball, to bounce off Robertson's foot and deceive goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
Liverpool quickly regained their lead in the 55th minute, when the referee awarded him a free kick, carried out by Robertson towards the penalty area, to receive Jota on his chest before turning around and shooting towards the far post.
Quick reply
But Liverpool were not congratulated by their lead again, as Nottingham equalized in the 67th minute, when Van Dijk cleared the ball in front of goal, to reach the uncensored Gibbs White, who blocked it "on the fly", to bounce off Konaté's foot and settle to the right of Alisson.
However, Liverpool regained their advantage in the 70th minute, when Alexander-Arnold returned to his hobby of free-kicking, and Salah followed the ball from a difficult position into the net.
Nottingham missed an irreplaceable chance in the 80th minute, when Conaté cleared a throw-in, but Gibbs White followed it towards substitute Brennan Johnson, who met it with one touch, to hit his attempt with the crossbar.
A header from Núñez went past the goal in the 85th minute, and then the same striker tried to drop the ball over goalkeeper Navas without succeeding in stoppage time.