Second-half goals from Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah allowed new Liverpool coach Arne Slot to get off to a 2-0 winning start at newly-promoted Ipswich Town on Saturday.
Ipswich, cheered on by new minority shareholder and singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran from the Portman Road stands, went toe-to-toe with Liverpool in the first half but failed to take their chances when they presented themselves.
Salah took his tally of goals in the opening round of a Premier League season to nine — breaking a tie he had with Wayne Rooney, Alan Shearer and Frank Lampard.
Slot’s new side improved markedly after the break, taking the lead on the hour mark through Jota, before a fine move was finished off by Egyptian forward Salah five minutes later to effectively kill off the Ipswich challenge.
“Hopefully I keep going like this for the whole season,” Salah told TNT Sports. “I always try to help the team all the time, I’m always happy to score goals or assist.
“It’s quite different for all of us (playing under Slot), we need to adapt.”
Arsenal win
Arsenal eased to a 2-0 win at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers with goals by Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka getting their title challenge up and running.
It was far from a fluent display but Mikel Arteta’s side deserved the points.
Havertz headed in from Saka’s cross in the 25th minute but the hosts never looked completely comfortable until Saka’s clinical finish doubled their advantage in the closing stages.
Points shared
Bournemouth forward Antoine Semenyo rescued a point for his side with a late equaliser as they drew 1-1 at Nottingham Forest.
Forest took the lead in the 23rd minute when defensive midfielder Ryan Yates’ close-range shot was parried by goalkeeper Neto and Chris Wood reacted quickly to slot the ball home.
The hosts looked comfortable but Bournemouth equalised in the 86th minute when Semenyo smashed the ball in from close range.
Forest’s Brazilian midfielder Danilo was carried off on a stretcher 10 minutes into the game with what appeared to be a serious injury following a collision with Semenyo.
Joelinton’s goal earned Newcastle a 1-0 win over promoted Southampton in their first game of the League at St James’ Park, despite going down to 10 men in the first half.
Fabian Schar was sent off in the 28th minute for retaliating after a foul by Ben Brereton Diaz but the visitors failed to make the most of their numerical advantage, and Newcastle took the lead just before the break.
