Mo Salah scores on return as Liverpool routs Brentford 4-1

LONDON: Mohamed Salah made a scoring return for Liverpool as the Premier League leader routed Brentford 4-1 on Saturday. Salah had been out for a month since sustaining a hamstring injury at the Africa Cup of Nations. He came on as a substitute just before halftime at the Gtech Community Stadium and struck his 19th goal of the season in all competitions in the 68th minute.

Liverpool already led 2-0 at that point, after Darwin Nunez opened the scoring in the 35th and Alexis Mac Allister added another from Salah's assist. Ivan Toney pulled a goal back for Brentford in the 75th, scoring for the fourth time in five games since returning from an eight-month ban for breaching betting rules.

But substitute Cody Gakpo sealed a 4-1 win for Liverpool in the 86th, which provisionally extended its lead at the top of the table to five points. Second-place Manchester City and Arsenal, in third, were due to play later on Saturday.

Defending champion City was playing Chelsea and last season's runner-up Arsenal was at Burnley. While Liverpool's title challenge remains in good shape, there was concern for manager Jurgen Klopp after injuries to Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota in the first half. Jota had to leave the field on a stretcher.

The Merseyside club was already without the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold, Thiago Alcantara and Dominik Szoboszlai, while goalkeeper Alisson was also hurt in training on Friday and missed the game against Brentford.