Liverpool manager Arne Slot was of the opinion his side were lucky enough to move nine points clear at the summit of the Premier League standings after Mohamed Salah double helped a the Reds to a controversial 2-0 win at AFC Bournemouth.
The Merseyside outfit went ahead after Salah netted a penalty after Cody Gakpo appeared to trip himself rather than going down from a challenge from Lewis Cook — aside from the penalty decision, Gakpo was barely onside which left the Cherries angry by referee Darren England’s on-field decision which was not changed by VAR.
Bournemouth thought they leveled the game but David Brooks’ goal was cancelled as Milos Kerkez was judged to be offside in the build up.
Salah secured the points with his 21st goal of the league campaign, the fifth time he has reach the 20-goal mark in his career in England, to extend Liverpool’s lead over second-placed Arsenal.
Unbeaten in 19 league games and chasing a 20th top flight title, Slot and his side will be hopeful Manchester City can do them a favour to defeat Arsenal on Sunday after they rode their luck.
“If you want to win here maybe you need a bit of luck because the margins are so small,” Slot said.
“Our penalty was just not offside, their goal on 1-1 was on the margin offside, they hit the post twice.
“We had our chances as well but it was a close call for us to win this game. We weren’t unlucky, let’s put it this way.”
The Dutchman also gave his thoughts on the scenarios which played out at the Vitality Stadium.
“I haven’t seen it back but one of my players is on a clear one-v-one with the goalkeeper and he’s fallen down,” Slot said of the Gakpo penalty incident.
“So either he makes a dive or they touch him. If they touch him that for me is a penalty.
“I can come up with three, four, five examples where we didn’t have the luck or the decision we deserved this season.
“That’s always the difficult thing in football, people will always say there’s that luck for Liverpool or for the one that is the one that is number one at the moment.”
Trent Alexander-Arnold was subbed off after getting injured in the second half and Slot said he would be surprised if the defender is fit for Thursday’s League Cup semi-final second leg against Tottenham.
On the hunt for the quadruple Liverpool will try to overturn a 1-0 first leg deficit when Ange Postecoglou’s struggling side travel to Anfield.
