Darwin Nunez scored twice in stoppage time to seal a 2-0 victory for Liverpool at Brentford on Saturday, extending their Premier League lead to seven points following Bournemouth’s impressive 4-1 triumph at Newcastle.
The Reds appeared on course to drop points for the third consecutive league match until the often-criticized Uruguayan made a dramatic impact, doubling his Premier League goal tally for the season in the dying moments in west London.
Nunez first latched onto a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross to put Liverpool ahead, before striking again with a powerful finish to add a crucial twist to the title race.
Instead of cutting the gap, Arsenal are now under pressure to keep pace when they host Aston Villa in the 1730GMT kick-off.
Liverpool had been wasteful in front of goal in a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest in midweek and Arne Slot’s men nearly let another two points slip away.
Dominik Szoboszlai smashed a shot off the bar and Cody Gakpo failed to hit the target with a glorious chance to open the scoring before half-time.
On a rare quiet day for Mohamed Salah, Slot was forced to turn to Nunez to make an impact off the bench and he duly delivered.
The 25-year-old had not scored in the league since November but was in the right place to finish after a neat one-two between Harvey Elliott and Alexander-Arnold.
Substitute Elliott was the creator for the second, feeding Nunez to cut inside and fire past Mark Flekken.