Departing Salah scores to brighten Anfield's mood
Mohamed Salah joined Rio Ngumoha on the scoresheet as Liverpool brightened the mood at Anfield with a 2-0 victory over Fulham in the Premier League.
Salah confirmed during the international break that his glittering nine-year spell on Merseyside will end at the conclusion of the season, while fellow modern-day great Andy Robertson announced he will also be departing.
On an emotional day, Liverpool put its recent losses in the Premier League, FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League behind it.
Ngumoha's first Anfield strike was a delightful curling effort that gave Bernd Leno no chance in the 36th minute, after the 17-year-old turned Timothy Castagne inside-out near the left corner of the area.
Salah then joined him on the scoresheet four minutes later, planting a trademark finish past Leno after taking in Cody Gakpo's offload at the end of a flowing move.
Fulham improved dramatically after half-time and had several chances to force a nervy finale, with Sasa Lukic having a goal chalked off for offside before Rodrigo Muniz and Emile Smith Rowe were guilty of glaring misses.
But after defeats to Brighton and Hove Albion, Manchester City and Paris Saint-German, Liverpool held firm for a victory that takes it four points clear of Chelsea on the table, ahead of the Blues facing Manchester City.
Asked about the mood in Liverpool's dressing room, Liverpool boss Slot revealed after the match things had improved.
"It's a better place than it was two or three days ago, or a week ago," he said.
"But it's also not that after we win, everything is good again. We know there is still a lot to play for.
"Everybody can understand after these two losses, 4-0 and 2-0 – and the 2-0 felt like more than 2-0 – to come out today and beat Fulham after only two days of rest, that shows the mentality of the team.
"We've played many games like this this season but unfortunately that didn't always lead to a win or a clean sheet.
"I think we deserved to win but it wasn't as if we completely dominated the game. But we've played many of these games where a deflected shot or a set-piece led to us conceding and it ended up in a draw or a loss. I wouldn't say we had luck, but at last there was some justice to how the game went."
For Fulham, meanwhile, the result represented a dent to its European hopes and left it eight points adrift of the top five, and Marco Silva was disappointed that his team missed several chances to cut Liverpool's lead in the second half.
"The statistics of the game were balanced in terms of shots, chances, it was very balanced," he said. "We had chances that we didn't score. We were not ruthless enough.
"We were too passive in moments, for both goals. These moments made an impact and we were punished for our first half. We were not at the level we should have been."
