Salah-inspired Liverpool beat Man City

Liverpool took a giant stride towards the Premier League title on Sunday as a 2-0 win over Manchester City opened up an 11-point lead over Arsenal at the top of the table.

Mohamed Salah was again Liverpool's star performer as he opened the scoring with his 30th goal of the season before setting up Dominik Szoboszlai to double the lead before half-time.

"It is special. Especially when you are in the title race, it is incredible," said Salah after Liverpool's first league win at the Etihad for a decade.

"Me and the big guys in the team, we need another title."

Just days after exiting the Champions League to Real Madrid, this was another sobering defeat for the dethroned English champions, who are now 20 points adrift of the leaders.

So often during Pep Guardiola's glorious reign, Liverpool have come up just short in English football's great rivalry of recent years.

However, their time to match Manchester United's record of 20 English top-flight titles now appears just months away in Arne Slot's first season in charge.

"We work every single day to achieve this and it is three months of very hard work (ahead) to maintain this," said Slot.

"It is important to understand why we are where we are."

Arsenal's shock 1-0 home defeat to West Ham on Saturday had eased the pressure on Liverpool, that had built after dropping points in two of their last three games at Everton and Aston Villa.

A trip to the Etihad has for so long been the stiffest test of all, but City's defensive frailties were easily exposed and they also badly missed the presence of the injured Erling Haaland in attack.

Liverpool, by contrast, had their talisman fit and firing as Salah took his staggering tally this season to 25 goals and 16 assists in 27 Premier League appearances.

The Egyptian fired the visitors in front on 14 minutes thanks to a brilliantly executed set-piece routine.

Alexis Mac Allister's corner was flicked by Szoboszlai into Salah's path and his shot deflected off Nathan Ake past the despairing dive of Ederson.

At the other end, City's own Egyptian international showed his ability to finish, but Omar Marmoush had strayed offside before being played in by Phil Foden.

City winger Jeremy Doku was skipping past Trent Alexander-Arnold at will, yet the Belgian consistently failed to deliver a telling cross or shot.

Salah was not so forgiving as he raced onto a long ball over the top and teed up Szoboszlai to wrong-foot Ederson.

The final outcome could have been much more humiliating for City had Liverpool had been as accurate on the counter-attack after the break.

Curtis Jones had a third goal ruled out by a VAR review for offside after Szoboszlai just failed to time his run through the heart of the City defence.

Ederson was forced into a stunning save from Luis Diaz and only a brilliant last-ditch tackle from Abdukodir Khusanov denied Szoboszlai a second.

Marmoush scored a hat-trick in last weekend's 4-0 win over Newcastle and remained a lively threat as he flashed another effort across the front of Alisson Becker's goal.

But City lacked the end product to make nearly 70 percent possession count.

Despite an eighth league defeat of the season, Guardiola's men remain in fourth and will be confident of securing their place in the Champions League next season with a top-five finish likely to be enough.

However, after an unprecedented run of four consecutive titles, City look like yesterday's team with Liverpool now champions in waiting.

Hakimi scores twice as PSG sink Lyon

Achraf Hakimi scored twice and Ousmane Dembele kept up his remarkable recent form in front of goal as Paris Saint-Germain won 3-2 away to Lyon on Sunday to maintain their unbeaten record in Ligue 1 this season.

All the goals were scored in the second half, with Hakimi opening the scoring on 53 minutes and Dembele doubling PSG's lead just before the hour mark.

Rayan Cherki pulled one back for the hosts late on to potentially set up a grandstand finish, only for Hakimi to strike again. Corentin Tolisso then grabbed a second for Lyon in stoppage time.

PSG have won 18, drawn five and lost none of 23 domestic league outings this season and are a huge 13 points clear of nearest chasers Marseille at the top of the table.

They have not lost a domestic game this season and have not been beaten at all by French opposition since a 3-1 defeat at home to Toulouse last May.

"The team has really grown in terms of character. We showed great emotional and physical control," said PSG coach Luis Enrique.

His team next face fourth-tier Saint-Brieuc in Brittany in the French Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday, before hosting Lille in Ligue 1 next weekend.

That will be followed by the home leg of their Champions League last-16 showdown with English Premier League leaders Liverpool on Wednesday, March 5.

Lyon, meanwhile, remain sixth but have now lost two of their four matches under new coach Paulo Fonseca.

This result is a blow to their hopes of qualifying for next season's Champions League as they now sit five points adrift of the top four.

"It is not easy against PSG because they are so strong," Fonseca admitted.

PSG were fresh from hammering French rivals Brest 7-0 last midweek, a result which saw them win their Champions League knockout phase play-off tie 10-0 on aggregate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXvtPtDIPiU

- Marseille 'corruption' claims -

After a goalless first half, they went ahead when Bradley Barcola's cutback came all the way to Hakimi and the Moroccan swept home.

The visitors were well on their way to victory soon after that thanks to a magnificent solo effort from Dembele, who foraged a path into the area before firing high into the far corner.

The France forward is PSG's top scorer with 24 goals in all competitions this season, including 19 in 14 appearances since mid-December. He has 12 in his last eight Ligue 1 games.

Cherki, preferred to Alexandre Lacazette through the middle of Lyon's attack, reduced the arrears on 83 minutes after good work by Georges Mikautadze.

However, Hakimi made it 3-1, applying the finish to a fine move featuring a brilliant piece of skill by Goncalo Ramos and an assist from Lee Kang-in.

It is just the second time Hakimi has scored twice in the same game since signing for PSG in 2021.

Tolisso headed in to make it 3-2, but PSG held on as they stay on course to complete an unprecedented unbeaten season.

Marseille lost 3-0 at Auxerre on Saturday, with club directors later railing against what they considered unfair refereeing decisions.

Club president Pablo Longoria accused match officials of "corruption" and Fabrizio Ravanelli, the Italian former Marseille striker now working in an advisory role, accused referee Jeremy Stinat of "scandalous" officiating.

Marseille were already trailing 1-0 in Burgundy when they had a penalty claim dismissed by Stinat just before half-time.

The visitors then had Canadian defender Derek Cornelius sent off for a second yellow card shortly after the hour mark, before conceding two further goals late on.

Nice are now just three points behind Marseille in third after defeating bottom club Montpellier 2-0 on Sunday with goals by Jonathan Clauss and Hicham Boudaoui.

Lille are another two points back, just above Monaco, after beating the principality club 2-1 on Saturday.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Strasbourg and Brest drew 0-0, a result which keeps both sides on the fringes of the race for Europe.

Nantes boosted their survival hopes by beating Lens 3-1, while Toulouse won 4-1 at struggling Le Havre, who have now lost seven straight home games.