Monday’s briefing: Liverpool march towards title and Rangers sack Clement

Liverpool took a huge stride towards the Premier League title with a 2-0 win over champions Manchester City.

Mohamed Salah continues to break more records with another goal and an assist.

Earlier on Sunday, Newcastle held off a late Nottingham Forest fightback in a see-saw 4-3 thriller.

Reds take title initiative

Salah scored the opener and created another for Dominik Szoboszlai as Liverpool claimed a crucial victory at the Etihad Stadium.

Arne Slot’s side are now 11 points clear of nearest challengers Arsenal at the top of the table.

But Slot is refusing to look beyond Wednesday’s visit of Newcastle despite joyous fans singing about winning the league at the final whistle.

“The fans can sing whatever they want but we know as a team how hard we have to work for every single win,” he said.

City, without the injured Erling Haaland, lacked potency and their defeat underlined their startling decline this season after winning the title for the past four seasons.

Boss Pep Guardiola said: “It’s not enough but I recognise my team in the last two games in the Premier League – they were brilliant against both Newcastle and Liverpool.”

Clement sacked by Rangers

Philippe Clement was sacked as Rangers manager after 16 months in charge following damaging back-to-back home defeats.

The Belgian has been under extreme pressure since the humiliating Scottish Cup exit at the hands of William Hill Championship side Queen’s Park a fortnight ago and a first Ibrox loss to St Mirren since 1991 on Saturday proved to be the final straw for the Gers board.

Clement departs Rangers – 13 points adrift of city rivals Celtic at the top of the Premiership – at a time when the club are in talks about a multi-million investment by a United States-led consortium which includes Paraag Marathe, president of 49ers Enterprises.

Isak calls the Toon

Alexander Isak’s double helped ease Newcastle firmly back into the race for Champions League qualification by denting Nottingham Forest’s hopes in a seven-goal thriller.

The Sweden international took his tally for the season to 21 as he reached 50 goals in the Premier League in a 4-3 victory over third-placed Forest at St James’ Park in which the visitors had taken an early lead through Callum Hudson-Odoi.

Lewis Miley, Jacob Murphy and Isak twice scored inside 11 first-half minutes to turn the game on its head.

The visitors, who host second-placed Arsenal in midweek, pulled one back through defender Nikola Milenkovic and ensured a tense conclusion when substitute Ryan Yates struck at the death, but they had given themselves too much to do and are now just three points ahead of City and Newcastle.

Odegaard wants Arsenal response

Martin Odegaard said Arsenal cannot afford to feel sorry for themselves after the defeat against West Ham which left their title ambitions all but over.

The Gunners failed to exert any pressure on Liverpool following a desperately poor performance at the Emirates, with West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen scoring the only goal of the game on the stroke of half-time.

With Arsenal back in action at third-place Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night, captain Odegaard said: “It’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves.

“We have to keep going. There are still many games to be played. The main thing now is to win the next one and work from there.”

What’s on today?

There is a summit meeting in Yorkshire with a ding-dong derby in prospect when Sheffield United host Leeds at Bramall Lane.

The Championship’s top-two go toe-to-toe under the lights in the Steel City with Leeds two points ahead of the second-placed Blades.