PL: Liverpool hammer Leeds for first win in five games

SourceBBC

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Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota both scored twice as Liverpool claimed a first league win in five games by inflicting a second successive home hammering on Leeds, who remain mired deep in the relegation battle.

The Reds had not won since putting seven unanswered goals past Manchester United at the start of March, but after a slow start they ruthlessly dismantled hapless Leeds.

Trent Alexander-Arnold used an arm to control the ball but neither the referee or VAR felt it worthy of penalising before he then drove forward to set up Cody Gakpo for the opener. Soon after, Salah fired in from an angle to double the lead and put the visitors in control.

Leeds were given hope after the break when Luis Sinisterra dispossessed ponderous Ibrahima Konate and cleverly chipped the ball past Alisson.

However Liverpool quickly responded through Jota’s neat finish – the Portugal forward’s first goal since April 2022.

After seeing a goal ruled out for offside, Salah then slotted home at the end of a superb move to put the game to bed before Jota grabbed his own second from a Jordan Henderson cross.

Substitute Darwin Nunez completed the rout with a neat side-foot finish against a shambolic Whites side, who conceded five last weekend at home to Crystal Palace and now have the worst defensive record in the Premier League.

On an encouraging night for the visitors, there was also a return to action for Luis Diaz as he made his first appearance since October as a late substitute.

Jurgen Klopp’s side remain eighth in the Premier League table, a point behind seventh-placed Brighton and two shy of Aston Villa in sixth.