London, United Kingdom
Liverpool swept four points clear at the top of the Premier League as Mohamed Salah's masterclass inspired a memorable 6-3 rout of Tottenham, while Manchester United crashed to a humiliating 3-0 home defeat against Bournemouth on Sunday. Salah delivered a sublime performance featuring two goals and a pair of assists as Arne Slot's side ran riot in north London. The 32-year-old is now Liverpool's fourth top scorer ever with 229 goals.
Salah's brace took him past Billy Liddell, with only Ian Rush (346), Roger Hunt (285) and Gordon Hodgson (241) ahead of him. The rampant Reds have won 21 of their 25 matches in all competitions under Slot and have a game in hand on Chelsea to strengthen their lead in the title race.
This was a remarkable display of Liverpool's firepower as Luis Diaz and Alexis Mac Allister scored to put them in command. Dominik Szoboszlai grabbed Liverpool's third and Egypt star Salah took over after the break before Diaz netted again.
"For 60 minutes we did everything we had to do, we were comfortable and good with the ball. The main thing is we worked very hard," Slot said. "But you have to be on top of your game for the whole game and we didn't do that."
Punished for Ange Postecoglou's insistence on sticking to his high defensive line, it was the first time since 1997 that Tottenham had conceded six goals in a home league game.
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James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke scored for Tottenham, but an eighth league defeat this season leaves them languishing in 11th place as the pressure mounts on Postecoglou. "If you want to discount the fact we're missing a goalkeeper, two centre-backs and a left-back and that hasn't coincided with how we're doing... I don't know what to say anymore," Postecoglou said of his critics.
United boss Ruben Amorim, who once again left Marcus Rashford out of his squad, is set for a miserable Christmas following the worst result of his brief reign. Languishing in 13th place, United have suffered four defeats in nine matches in all competitions since Amorim arrived from Sporting Lisbon in November to replace the sacked Erik ten Hag.
United's second successive loss after their League Cup exit at Tottenham on Thursday underlined Amorim's belief that their road back to the top will be long and arduous.
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