Liverpool sweeps past Southampton for 6th straight EPL win
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool stayed perfect in the Premier League with its sixth straight victory on Saturday after beating Southampton 3-0 at Anfield.
Switzerland international Xherdhan Shaqiri marked his first start for the club with a role in two first-half goals. His deflected cross was turned in by Wesley Hoedt for the opener and a brilliant curling free-kick against the crossbar presented Mohamed Salah with a simple close-range effort for the third.
Either side of those goals, Joel Matip scored his first at Anfield as Southampton was pulled apart by a Liverpool side still nowhere near top gear.
Juergen Klopp's team is top with 18 points though Chelsea can go level on points if it wins at West Ham on Sunday.
Liverpool still has some way to go to match the club's best start to a campaign, though, as the 1990-91 side won 10 successive competitive matches.
Klopp changed his system to accommodate Shaqiri, switching to 4-2-3-1 with Salah moved to the centre and Shaqiri playing behind.
In the 10th minute Shaqiri cut in from the left to race onto Sadio Mane's perfectly-weighted throughball, hitting a right-footed shot off Shane Long onto Hoedt with scrambling goalkeeper Alex McCarthy unable to keep it out.
Salah was denied by a superbly timed block from Cedric Soares after combining with Roberto Firmino but that led to the second goal as Trent Alexander-Arnold's corner was powerfully headed home by Matip, making his first start since March 31.
Salah avoided the worst drought of his short Liverpool career in first-half added time thanks to his anticipation and no shortage of Shaqiri brilliance, netting his 30th goal in his last 31 Anfield appearances.
He was denied a second for offside in the 89th minute after Mario Lamina had cleared James Milner's shot off the line.
The only downside to the afternoon was the departure of Virgil van Dijk with a bruised rib.
For Southampton it was a third loss in six league matches.
