Arne Slot reacts after his Liverpool side came from behind to win 3-2 at Southampton to move eight points clear at the top of the Premier League

Arne Slot dismissed fears Liverpool could get carried away with their Premier League lead after going eight points clear on a dramatic afternoon at Southampton. Mohamed Salah scored twice in the second half as the Reds came from behind to win 3-2 on the south coast on Sunday.

Dominik Szoboszlai had given Liverpool a deserved lead on the half-hour mark only for Adam Armstrong and Mateus Fernandes to score either side of half-time to threaten a shock victory for the bottom-placed Saints.

But the Reds’ return means they have now won 10 of their first 12 Premier League games of the season, with only two teams having already made such a start twice and failed to win the title.

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And head coach Slot said: “We know what we had to put into it to get the lead we have now, to get these wins.

“There were maybe one or two games where the victories were by a big margin, but the others were by small margins.

“We know how difficult it is to win a match. These players have been in the Premier League for a long time and it wasn’t long ago that Arsenal were leading by eight points and City were coming back.

“You know, if you play Arsenal, City, Chelsea, Tottenham were great yesterday, they’re all capable of winning that many games in a row. It’s good to be in this position but we certainly don’t get carried away.

Commenting on the victory, Slot added: “We are really happy, especially after being down 2-1 after an hour. Maybe that doesn’t reflect how the first hour went, because we dominated the whole match, which is not that easy.

“I have seen many Southampton games where they have dominated. If you’re down 2-1 after an hour, you might be over the moon if you win 3-2.

Southampton’s first goal came when Armstrong scored on the rebound after his penalty had been saved by Caoimhin Kelleher. The penalty was awarded when Tyler Dibling was fouled Andy Robertsonwith the VAR backup referee According to Sam Barrott, the incident occurred inside the area despite replays suggesting first contact took place outside.

“For me, with offside and deciding whether a ball is inside or outside the box, it’s just black or white,” Slot said. “It was a mistake, that was clear. So if they see it’s inside, it’s a penalty.

“Sometimes when we strike it can be ‘yes or no’, or a red card. There was an incident in the first half (when Adam Lallana was booked for a foul on Ryan Gravenberch) where one could say it was a “yes or no” red card. These things you can discuss.

“But offside and inside or outside the penalty area is something you can’t dispute. But it was a small margin – like our whole season.