Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah struck within three minutes in the second half in a 3-1 victory over last-placed Southampton on Saturday that gave the Premier League leaders 16 provisional points of breathing room at the top of the table.

Arne Slot’s men have 70 points after 29 games, while second-placed Arsenal have 54 but two games in hand. Besieged Southampton are 20th on nine points, 13 points from safety.

Will Smallbone stunned the crowd at a sun-drenched Anfield with a goal for the visitors in first-half injury time, when a mix-up between Reds goalkeeper Alisson and centre-back Virgil van Dijk saw the ball fall invitingly to Smallbone, who scored from an angle.

The league leaders thoroughly dominated after the break and Nunez levelled in the 51st minute after Luis Diaz worked the ball past two Southampton defenders before teeing up the Uruguayan who slotted home from close range.

Nunez drew a penalty three minutes later when Smallbone caught him on the back of the ankle in the box, and Salah unleashed a blistering shot from the spot past Aaron Ramsdale into the inside side netting. Salah padded Liverpool’s lead with a second penalty in the 87th minute after a handball from Yukinari Sugawara.

Elsewhere, Nottingham Forest beat Manchester City 1 – 0. Nottingham Forest’s Callum Hudson-Odoi struck late to give his side a 1-0 win over Manchester City in the Premier League and keep them on track for a top four finish and prized place in next year’s Champions League.

The winger picked up a glorious diagonal pass from Morgan Gibbs-White before running into the box and beating City goalkeeper Ederson at his near post from a tight angle in the 83rd minute.

In a game of few chances, Pep Guardiola’s City team came closest when Nico Gonza-lez’ long-range shot scraped the outside of the post, while Hudson-Odoi saw a curled effort pushed onto the post by Ederson.

The result kept this season’s surprise team Forest third on 51 points, with City in fourth place on 47.

Also, Brighton & Hove Albion beat Fulham 2 – 1.

A Joao Pedro penalty in added time earned Brighton & Hove Albion a 2-1 home Premier League win over Fulham, moving the hosts up to sixth place in the standings and boosting their bid to qualify for European football.

After a cautious opening half-hour, Fulham’s Alex Iwobi brought the game to life when he embarked on a lung-busting run down the right flank and sent in a pinpoint cross that Raul Jimenez chested down and fired past Bart Verbruggen in the 35th minute.

Five minutes later the south-coast club equalised through Jan Paul van Hecke, who was left completely unmarked at the far post and headed home a Yasin Ayari free kick for his first Brighton goal.

Just as it looked like the spoils would be shared following a scrappy second half, Pedro was bowled over by a clumsy tackle from Harrison Reed in the fifth minute of stoppage time and the Brazil international stepped up to calmly slot home the winner.

In another game, Crystal Palace beat Ipswich Town 1– 0.

A beautiful chipped finish from Ismaila Sarr late in the second half gave Crystal Palace a 1-0 home win over relegation-threatened Ipswich Town, with the visitors left to rue a slew of missed chances in a lively Premier League game.

The win moves the Eagles to 11th place on 39 points, while Ipswich remain in the bottom three in 18th spot on 17 points, five behind 17th-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Ipswich racked up 15 goal-scoring chances in an entertaining but often sloppy encounter and got eight of them on target, but a combination of wasteful finishing and an inspired Dean Henderson in the Palace goal saw them leave Selhurst Park empty-handed.

Instead, it was Sarr who stole the headlines. Shortly after sending a glancing header from a corner just wide, the Senegalese forward stole in behind the defence in the 82nd minute and scored with a lovely dinked effort past Alex Palmer to secure the three points.