Salah Double Leads Liverpool to Win at Bournemouth after Forest Enjoys 7-0 Rout

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring the 0-2 goal during the English Premier League match between AFC Bournemouth and Liverpool in Bournemouth, Britain, 01 February 2025. EPA/DANIEL HAMBURY

Mohamed Salah’s double helped Liverpool pass another huge test of its Premier League title credentials with a 2-0 win at in-form Bournemouth on Saturday, after high-flying rival Nottingham Forest made a statement of its own in a record 7-0 rout.
Salah moved above Chelsea great Frank Lampard to No. 6 on the all-time Premier League scoring chart, on 178 goals, by converting a 30th-minute penalty and curling in a beautiful second in the 75th, The Associated Press reported.
The Egypt forward now has 21 goals in what could be his last Premier League campaign with Liverpool, with whom his contract is up at the end of the season. It's the fifth time he has netted 20 or more league goals in a single season for the club.
It ended Bournemouth’s 11-match unbeaten run in the league and left Liverpool with a nine-point lead over second-place Arsenal and third-place Forest, which bounced back from a 5-0 loss last weekend — also at Bournemouth — by demolishing Brighton for its heaviest victory in the Premier League era.
Chris Wood scored a hat trick for Forest, which is course to qualify for a European competition next season — potentially even the Champions League by securing a finish in the top four or five.
Arsenal hosts Manchester City on Sunday and will look to trim the gap to Liverpool back down to six points.
Record Premier League win for Forest Wood, a 33-year-old New Zealand international enjoying the most prolific Premier League season of his career, took his tally to 17 goals with his hat trick and is only behind Salah (21) and Man City’s Erling Haaland (18) in the race for the Golden Boot.
Morgan Gibbs-White, Neco Williams and Jota Silva also scored after an own-goal by Lewis Dunk set the ball rolling at the City Ground for third-place Forest, which is the surprise of the Premier League this season and moved level on 47 points with Arsenal.
“What a difference a week can make,” Wood said, referring to Forest's heavy loss at Bournemouth. “Last week wasn't us. Today was definitely us.”
Forest battled to avoid relegation last season but now has a great chance of qualifying for the Champions League, which would put the club back in Europe’s elite — where it was a generation ago when winning the European Cup in 1979 and 1980.
Doucoure scores after just 10 seconds Abdoulaye Doucoure scored the fourth-fastest goal in Premier League history — after just 10.18 seconds, according to the competition's statistic supplier, Opta — to set Everton on course for a 4-0 win over Leicester.
From the kickoff, the ball went back to goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who launched a long clearance toward the Leicester area and directly into the path of Doucoure. The midfielder surged into the area and slotted home.
It was the earliest Everton has ever scored in the Premier League, the fourth-fastest goal in the competition’s history, and the quickest ever by a home player
Beto, a striker filling in for the injured Dominic Calvert-Lewin, scored twice in the first half and Iliman Ndiaye added a late fourth to complete a third straight win for recently hired Everton manager David Moyes, who is enjoying a fine start to his second spell in charge.
Leicester was coming off a win at Tottenham that had eased the pressure on manager Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Fulham came from behind to beat Newcastle 2-1 away, while last-place Southampton won by the same score at Ipswich for just a second victory of the league campaign.
Aston Villa, linked with a move for Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford, visits Wolverhampton later.