Liverpool leave it late to overturn Southampton as Mohamed Salah ends goal drought with sublime solo effort

How much more drama can this title race take? How much more tension can Liverpool put themselves through, and still keep mastering it? How much more can Manchester City watch on before they break under the endless pressure of it?

This is a series in which every episode is a thriller, none more so than Liverpool’s 3-1 win at Southampton. No game could ever be as draining as their win over Spurs last Sunday but this was close. Again Liverpool played poorly, as if they were buckling under their own nerves. They went behind early on and, with 10 minutes left, it was still 1-1. Just like against Spurs. Just like against Fulham.

A draw here would have allowed City to build up a three-point cushion, giving them one free swing. But in fact it was yet another late win, this time Mohamed Salah making the difference, running 50 yards on the break, with 10 minutes left. One of the greatest moments yet in this unforgettable season, and one that showed that however Liverpool are playing, it does not especially matter much anymore. All the matters is getting over the line.

They only have to do this five more times and then Manchester City will have to be immaculate on their far longer, harder run-in if they are to defend their title.

The performance for the first 80 minutes of this game is almost irrelevant given how it ended. The fans did not look like they especially minded. But, it must be said that in the first half Liverpool looked so frozen by the pressure and the context that they were incapable of playing even the simplest football. Usually so calm at building the play out from the back they were skittish and brittle. All it took was pressure from Ryan Bertrand or Nathan Redmond or Shane Long on the ball and Liverpool were panicking, nervous, never wanting the ball and hacking it away when they could. As soon as Joel Matip put his first ball into the stands everyone here sensed that something was not quite right.

Saints’ first real attack showed how vulnerable Liverpool were. Saints’ second attack made them pay for it. When Bertrand had the ball on the left no-one even tried to stop his cross. When Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg charged forward into the box no-one spotted him. And when he flicked the ball on it was far too easy for Long to take it down and pick his spot. It was a clever goal but it was not genius, and it was made so much easier by Liverpool’s fear.

Liverpool staggered, trying to find their feet, and Saints tried to take advantage. Again, Bertrand and Redmond harried the defence into a mistake. Another cross came in from the left. But this time Long could not get quite enough on his finish. In that moment, the title challenge teetered, but it did not fall.

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Southampton’s problem is that they could never dream of maintaining that pressure or intensity for more than the first 20 minutes. That is when their fans started ole-ing but it is also when the players ran out of steam. They dropped so far back in their 5-4-1 that all they could do was hack the ball away, into the sea of purple shirts in front of them. Liverpool were not playing well – not even close – but they had so much of the ball they could not help but threaten.

You don’t always need to play well to score a goal. Liverpool passed from side to side, cross after cross, and when Trent Alexander-Arnold delivered the ball from the right there was Naby Keita, six inches shorter than Jan Bednarek but jumping above him at the far post, getting just enough on his header to squeeze the ball past Angus Gunn. Thirty-six minutes of frustration and angst gave way to a sense that Liverpool could save themselves after all.

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There was nothing more Saints could do in the first half, but when the second half started they turned it back it on again. For 10 minutes they gave everything they had, pressing, tackling, breaking, just like Liverpool themselves. It did not come to much: Matip blocked from Redmond, Long fired miles wide from distance. The rest of the game was played out entirely in Southampton’s half.

We have been here before. So many of Liverpool’s recent games have been poised like this, still level with 10 minutes left. Spurs last Sunday. Fulham before then. Everton and Manchester United away. West Ham and Leicester before then. So which path would this follow? The blunt frustration of those four draws, or that explosive bliss of the two later winners?

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If you’re reading this you know by now. Saints were eagerly attacking, going for a winner of their own, not knowing that they were just opening themselves for another Liverpool thriller. Josh Sims, earnestly trying to get the ball onto his right to shoot from the edge of the box, gave the ball away. Liverpool broke, seeing more space in front of them than they had seen all game. Jordan Henderson, on as a sub, nodded the ball forward. Salah, barely in the game before this, raced forward from inside his own half, free of any impediment, and whipped the ball into the bottom corner.

As a moment of drama it was up there with the Toby Alderweireld own goal, the Divock Origi winner, the James Milner penalty, or any of those late events that have marked this title charge. And if they do it then this will be remembered as one of the great decisive goals that won the league.

From there the result was obvious but Liverpool did spare themselves a nervy finish by scoring a third. Southampton were exhausted and when Firmino burst down the right he could set up Henderson to tap in their third. For the first time all night the away end could take a deep breath.