Sundays Premier Football Review .

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Southampton 0-2 Liverpool: Newcastle Utd 1-0 Manchester Utd: (February 11 2018)

The race for second place in the Premier League warmed up on Sunday with contrasting results for big rivals Liverpool and Manchester United.

Man United suffered a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle thanks to Matt Ritchie's first goal of the season in the second half, while Liverpool enjoyed an away stroll as goals from Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah saw them beat Southampton 2-0 at St Mary's.

Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool end the weekend third in the table.

Goals from Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah inspired Liverpool to victory. Salah set up the Brazilian for the opener just seven minutes in and the Egyptian winger grabbed his 22nd league goal of the season shortly before half-time thanks to a clever assist from Firmino.

Southampton, who were up against their former defender Virgil van Dijk on his return to St Mary's, end the weekend in the relegation zone as their quest for a first home league win since November continues.

Salah said, "The three points are very important for us. Everyone performed very well today so that was great. When you score first inside 15 minutes it makes the game easier.

Asked about his own ever-increasing goal tally, Salah added: "I'm thinking about helping the team. I'm not surprised by it, I just move on and think about the next game."

Dutch defender Van Dijk, who left Southampton for a reported £75million fee in January, said: "I just focused on the game. I enjoyed being back and there are a lot of good memories here.

"You can't do anything about the reception, you just do your thing."

He was relieved to see Salah score a second goal to push the Reds clear.

"It's a dangerous lead (1-0)," he said. "It was a very important win to challenge for a Champions League place and I enjoyed it."