Arne Slot fires warning to Liverpool stars after extending lead over Man City

Liverpool fought back from 2-1 down to beat Southampton 3-2 at St Mary's to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League with Mohamed Salah bagging a late brace

Arne Slot warned Liverpool not to get “carried away” after Mo Salah ’s double sent the Kop eight points clear with a reminder Arsenal blew a similar lead last year.

The Premier League leaders trailed 2-1 at wooden spoonists Southampton until Salah’s second-half goals gave the flying Dutchman 31 points from a possible 36 for starters. If Liverpool can beat champions Manchester City - reeling from five consecutive defeats - at Anfield on Sunday, their lead at the summit could stretch to 11 points.

But Slot cautioned against premature triumphalism at Anfield, saying: “It’s a healthy advantage but we also know what we had to put into it to get this lead and to get these wins. And I only have to show the players there were maybe one or two games for us that were wins by a big margin, but the rest of them were all by small margins.

“I think it was last year, even later on in the season, that Arsenal led by eight points and City came back (to win the title). You know if you face Arsenal, City, Chelsea and all these other teams - Tottenham were great yesterday as well - they are all able to win so many games in a row. So it's nice to have this position, but we are definitely not getting carried away.”

Slot admitted Liverpool were made to work harder for the points than he would have liked ahead of Wednesday night’s big Champions League date with European Cup holders Real Madrid.

But he said: “It's very hard for English teams to do well in Europe, because there's no team in the Premier League that doesn't cause big problems. This league asks a lot from every player every weekend, and if you don't play in Europe, that's not always easy.

“Of course we are really happy, especially because after an hour we were 2-1 down. Maybe that wasn't a reflection of how the first hour went, because I think we dominated the whole game. In the end, if you're 2-1 down after an hour, you are maybe over the moon if you win it with 3-2.

“Mo is a big player for us in big moments, and he's done it again. We always know we can trust him if things are difficult for us.”

Matchwinner Salah pinpointed the game with City as a potentially pivotal moment, saying: “Hopefully, we keep going in this direction. We have a game against City so hopefully, we win it and go 11 points clear. City have a bad time now but they have great players."

Rock-bottom Saints are staring down the barrel - no club who lost 10 of their 12 games in the top flight has stayed up. But defiant boss Russell Martin said: “We broke records last season, so we will have to do it again.

“The frustration is that the goals we conceded were so poor. I could accept it a bit more if we had been undone by moments of magic, but we limited the best team in the league to shots from outside the box.”

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