LONDON: Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Southampton 1-0 at St Mary’s Stadium on Sunday, extending the Saints’ winless run to six Premier League games, after striker Raul Jimenez scored his first goal in nearly a year.

The Mexican’s solo effort in the second half was his first league goal since last October. The 30-year-old suffered a fractured skull the following month, prematurely ending his season and eventually requiring surgery.

After a slow opening period, Jimenez broke the deadlock in the 61st minute, shrugging off Jan Bednarek’s challenge to latch on to a long ball from goalkeeper Jose Sa before wrong-footing centre back Mohammed Salisu to fire home.

Bruno Lage had dropped wingers Adama Traore and Francisco Trincao from the Wolves starting lineup for Daniel Podence and Hwang Hee-chan, but the changes did little to inspire the team in attack.

The visitors had only one shot on target in the first half, which came in the first minute, while at the other end Southampton’s Nathan Redmond hit the back of the net only for his strike to be chalked off for offside.

Tino Livramento and Adam Armstrong were the bright sparks for the home side and the second half became an end-to-end affair as the Saints mounted numerous attacks.

But Wolves held on, with Jimenez nearly scoring a second in injury time from a similar long ball. But his hesitation while deciding to shoot or square the ball to substitute Traore cost him as his tame effort was parried away by Saints keeper Alex McCarthy.

Wolves moved provisionally up to 13th with their second win of the season while Ralph Hasenhuettl’s Saints are 16th, one point above the relegation zone.

SALAH SCORES 100TH EPL GOAL

Striker Mohamed Salah scored his 100th Premier League goal for Liverpool but the league leaders were still held to a draw by Brentford as the two sides played out a 3-3 thriller in Saturday’s late game.

Both sides had efforts cleared off the line in a lively opening before Ethan Pinnock gave Brentford the lead, stabbing the ball home at the back post after a clever free kick routine caught the Liverpool defence flat-footed in the 27th minute.

That lead was short-lived as Diogo Jota headed home Jordan Henderson’s cross to put the Reds level four minutes later, and Salah put his side in front in the 54th with his 100th goal in 151 league appearances for Liverpool.

The Bees refused to give up, levelling in the 63rd minute when defender Pontus Jansson swivelled in the box and hit the crossbar before Vitaly Janelt reacted quickest to head home the rebound.

Curtis Jones put Liverpool back in front four minutes later, cutting in from the left and unleashing a rocket that took a slight deflection before flying into the net as the visitors stepped up to a pace that Brentford struggled to match.

Salah could have put the game out of reach in the 77th minute but he lofted his chip just over the crossbar with only the keeper to beat. It was to prove a costly miss as Brentford snatched a dramatic equaliser through substitute Yoane Wissa in the 82nd minute.

There was still time for more drama as David Raya pulled off a superb save to deny Roberto Firmino and Ivan Toney had what looked to be a late winner for Brentford ruled out for offside.

The draw means Liverpool climb to 14 points after six games, one ahead of Manchester City, who beat Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge earlier in the day. Brentford are ninth on nine points.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2021