Liverpool Leads the Way in Premier League, Gives Slot Club Record

05 October 2024, United Kingdom, London: Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah celebrate with coach Arne Slot after the final whistle of the English Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park, London. Photo: Adam Davy/PA Wire/dpa
05 October 2024, United Kingdom, London: Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah celebrate with coach Arne Slot after the final whistle of the English Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park, London. Photo: Adam Davy/PA Wire/dpa
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Liverpool Leads the Way in Premier League, Gives Slot Club Record

05 October 2024, United Kingdom, London: Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah celebrate with coach Arne Slot after the final whistle of the English Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park, London. Photo: Adam Davy/PA Wire/dpa
05 October 2024, United Kingdom, London: Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah celebrate with coach Arne Slot after the final whistle of the English Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park, London. Photo: Adam Davy/PA Wire/dpa

Arne Slot earned a Liverpool record of nine wins from his first 10 games in charge after the club stayed on the top of the English Premier League on Saturday.
Diogo Jota’s ninth-minute goal at Selhurst Park held up to beat Crystal Palace 1-0 and ensure Slot would be looking down on rival managers Pep Guardiola of Manchester City and Mikel Arteta of Arsenal heading into the international break.
Four-time defending champion City is second after beating Fulham 3-2 and third-placed Arsenal won against Southampton 3-1. Both trail Liverpool by a point.
Slot is making light work of filling the void left by Anfield great Jurgen Klopp, with no other manager in the club’s history winning so many of his opening games in all competitions, The Associated Press reported.
“It definitely is (very satisfying). And it’s actually also quite special if you know how many great managers Liverpool had,” Slot said. “But I also said last week I think that I hope they don’t only remember me in one, two, three, four, five years only for this. We are hoping to do more special things than this.”
Liverpool’s only defeat under the Dutchman was a shock 1-0 home loss against Nottingham Forest. Otherwise, it has been a perfect start for a man who had the ominous task of replacing Klopp, who won a full set of major honors including the Premier League and Champions League.
Slot looks likely to be the main challenger to City and Arsenal, who have been first and second respectively in the last two seasons.
Both of those teams survived scares to come from behind to win at home.
Alisson injury It wasn’t all good news for Liverpool after goalkeeper Alisson sustained a suspected hamstring injury and was substituted in the second half at Palace.
The Brazil international, who has only recently returned from a muscle injury, was holding the back of his right leg after limping off Selhurst Park and is likely to miss Brazil’s World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Peru.
Argentina midfielder Alexis Mac Allister also went off with a groin issue that makes him a doubt for his country’s qualifiers against Venezuela and Bolivia.
Home rule City extended its unbeaten home run to 50 games in all competitions with victory against Fulham.
The sequence dates to November 2022 when Brentford won 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium through Ivan Toney’s last-minute strike. City was knocked out of the Champions League quarterfinals by Real Madrid last season after losing a penalty shootout, but the game ended 1-1 after extra time and does not officially count as a defeat.
It took John Stones’ stoppage-time goal to preserve the record in a 2-2 draw against Arsenal last month and on Saturday two goals from Mateo Kovacic saw City fight back after Andreas Pereira fired Fulham into a 26th-minute lead.
Kovacic’s deflected strike leveled the score in the 32nd and he made it 2-1 in the 47th.
Jeremy Doku extended City’s lead in the 82nd before substitute Rodrigo Muniz set up a tense finish with Fulham’s second in the 88th.
Had Adama Traore been more clinical with chances in each half, City’s proud record might have been broken.
City is unbeaten in its last 30 games in the league.
Arsenal’s run Arsenal’s 400th home win in the Premier League era was secured only after being given a fright by second-from-bottom Southampton, which took the lead at Emirates Stadium through Cameron Archer 10 minutes into the second half.
Bukayo Saka set up goals for Kai Havertz in the 58th and Gabriel Martinelli in the 68th before Southampton twice hit the frame of the goal in search of an equalizer.
Saka then put the game beyond doubt with his third goal of the season in the 88th.
Flying starters After becoming the first team in Premier League history to score in the opening minute in three consecutive games, Brentford is slowing down.
The west London club’s fans had to wait until the second minute to cheer its first goal against Wolves on Saturday when Nathan Collins found the back of the net on the way to a wild 5-3 win.
Matheus Cunha equalized for Wolves two minutes later and Bryan Mbeumo restored Brentford’s advantage from the penalty spot in the 20th.
It was all square again when Jorgen Strand Larsen leveled in the 26th, then Christian Norgaard put the home team in front for the third time in the 28th.
Ethan Pinnock made it 4-2 in first half stoppage time.
A frantic finish saw Fabio Carvalho score a fifth for Brentford in the 90th and Rayan Ait-Nouri grab a consolation for last-placed Wolves three minutes later.
Unhappy return Newcastle's Anthony Gordon failed to score from the penalty spot on his return to former club Everton as Newcastle drew 0-0 at Goodison Park.
Gordon, who began his career at Everton before joining Newcastle last year, saw his spot kick saved by Jordan Pickford in the 35th to the delight of the home fans.
The point maintained Everton’s recent upturn in form and extended its unbeaten run to four games in all competitions after losing its first four in the league.
First win Leicester won for the first time since being promoted back to the top flight by beating Bournemouth 1-0.
Facundo Buonanotte struck the winner in the 16th at King Power Stadium.
Also, West Ham beat Ipswich 4-1 at London Stadium.



Zheng Routs Paolini to Advance to Semifinals at WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia

Tennis - WTA Finals - King Saud University Indoor Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - November 6, 2024 China's Qinwen Zheng celebrates after winning her women's singles group stage match against Italy's Jasmine Paolini REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Tennis - WTA Finals - King Saud University Indoor Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - November 6, 2024 China's Qinwen Zheng celebrates after winning her women's singles group stage match against Italy's Jasmine Paolini REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
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Zheng Routs Paolini to Advance to Semifinals at WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia

Tennis - WTA Finals - King Saud University Indoor Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - November 6, 2024 China's Qinwen Zheng celebrates after winning her women's singles group stage match against Italy's Jasmine Paolini REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Tennis - WTA Finals - King Saud University Indoor Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - November 6, 2024 China's Qinwen Zheng celebrates after winning her women's singles group stage match against Italy's Jasmine Paolini REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

Zheng Qinwen cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Jasmine Paolini to reach the semifinals of the WTA Finals on Wednesday.
Zheng needed just over an hour to defeat Paolini in the match that decided the final qualifier from the Purple Group at the season-ending tournament for the top eight women's players, The Associated Press reported.
Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, who had won her first two matches to clinch a semifinal spot, lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 to No. 5 Elena Rybakina. It was Rybakina's first win of the round-robin phase.
It was Zheng's fourth win in as many matches against Paolini. The 22-year-old Chinese player had 12 aces and broke the Italian's serve five times.
“It's one of the best performances I had during this year,” Zheng said. “I'm really proud. I played in a really difficult group.”
Zheng is the youngest player to reach the semifinals in her first appearance at the WTA Finals since Petra Kvitova in 2011. It’s her seventh semifinal of the year and the first time she has beaten two top-10 opponents in the same tournament. She defeated Elena Rybakina on Monday.
Zheng has won 30 matches since Wimbledon, clinching the Olympic gold medal in Paris and winning titles in Palermo and Tokyo.
She could become the second player to win the singles gold medal and reach the WTA Finals championship match in the same season since tennis returned to the Olympics in 1988, after Serena Williams in 2012.
Paolini finished the season 38-19, having made the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon.
Jessica Pegula withdrew from her last match at the tournament because of a left knee injury. The American, who lost her first two matches and was already eliminated from semifinal contention, will be replaced in the Orange Group by first alternate and ninth-ranked Daria Kasatkina.
Kasatkina will play second-ranked Iga Swiatek on Thursday.