🦁 Liverpool on fire; Villa win again; Stalemates at Norwich and the Amex | OneFootball

Here’s what went down in the Premier League on Saturday.

Woodwork to the rescue as Brighton and Leeds draw a blank

Brighton and Leeds played out a goalless draw at the Amex Stadium in the day’s late kick off.

Neal Maupay had a great chance to open the scoring in the eighth minute, but he somehow shot over the bar with the goal gaping.

Leandro Trossard then went close to scoring in the 20th minute, but his angled drive clipped the post on its way out.

Into the second half and Brighton had another good chance to score when an error in the Leeds defence presented Jakub Moder with a sitter, but he could only scuff his effort harmlessly wide.

Leeds went close in the 84th minute when Pascal Struijk saw an effort tipped onto the post by Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sánchez, before Solly March rattled the post at the other end.

From earlier …

Rampant Reds slice Saints open

Scorers: Jota 2′, 32′, Thiago 37′, Van Dijk 52′

Liverpool racked up their second 4-0 win in a row when they comfortably overcame Southampton at Anfield.

The hosts made a fast start and took the lead after less than two minutes, when Diogo Jota tucked away Jordan Henderson’s cut-back from close range.

Sadio Mané then thought he’d made it 2-0 in the 12th minute when he finished from Andy Robertson’s free-kick delivery from the left, but the flag was up for offside.

Armando Broja had a couple of chances to equalise for Southampton and he was made to rue missing them in the 32nd minute, when Jota tapped in his second goal from Mohamed Salah’s assist to make it 2-0.

And two soon became three when Thiago Alcântara’s left-footed strike from just inside the area beat goalkeeper Alex McCarthy with the aid of a deflection off Lyanco.

Into the second half and the hosts went 4-0 up, when Virgil van Dijk volleyed home from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s corner.

That result moves Liverpool up to second in the table, while Saints are down in 14th.

Gerrard gets one over on old adversary Vieira

Scorers: Guehi 90+5′; Targett 15′, McGinn 86′

Steven Gerrard made it two wins from two as Aston Villa boss when his side impressively beat Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

Villa took the lead in the 15th minute when Matt Targett powered home left-footed from Ashley Young’s corner.

The visitors momentarily thought they’d been reduced to 10 men in the second half when Douglas Luiz was shown a straight red card for a foul on Chekhou Kouyate just moments after coming on.

But after reviewing the incident on the VAR monitor, referee Michael Salisbury downgraded the red to a yellow.

And somewhat against the run of play, John McGinn then doubled Villa’s lead in the 86th minute with an excellent finish, before Marc Guehi pulled a late consolation back for the hosts in stoppage time.

Villa move up to 11th while Palace are just ahead of them in 10th on goal difference.

Stalemate at Carrow Road

Dean Smith remains unbeaten after two games as manager of Norwich but Carrow Road saw its third goalless draw of the season.

Both sides had chances to score in either half, but the breakthrough never came and the Canaries missed the chance to climb out of the relegation zone.

Wolves remain in sixth.

Gunners overcome winless Magpies

Scorers: Saka 56′, Martinelli 66′

Arsenal cut Newcastle open twice in 10 second half minutes to make it a disappointing debut in the dugout for Eddie Howe.

After Aaron Ramsdale was forced to tip a Jonjo Shelvey strike onto the bar, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed an unbelievable chance before the break when the ball fell his way two yards out but he skewed his effort off the post and wide.

But the opener finally arrived after half-time when a neat passing move on the left saw Nuno Tavares slipped Bukayo Saka in and he drilled into the corner from a tight angle, although the joy was short-lived for him as he was substituted shortly afterwards with an injury.

His replacement didn’t take long to make an impact though as Gabriel Martinelli raced through moments after Newcastle were denied a penalty to volley in beautifully first time from a Takehiro Tomiyasu pass as Arsenal’s other full-back claimed an assist.

Arsenal move level on points with West Ham in fourth, while the Magpies remain rooted to the foot of the table, five points from safety.

Sunday’s fixtures