LIVERPOOL, England -- As Darwin Núñez walked toward the Anfield touchline on Saturday afternoon, he was serenaded by the sound of nearly 60,000 jubilant fans singing his name.

The Uruguay international forward had played 68 minutes of Liverpool's 3-1 comeback win over Southampton, scoring the equaliser and winning a penalty that was coolly converted by Mohamed Salah to help send Arne Slot's side -- temporarily, at least -- 16 points clear at the top of the Premier League table.

"He had one or two games that were not perfect, that also had to do with him missing that chance against [Aston] Villa," Slot said of his mercurial No.9 ahead of the match.



"But sometimes, these things happen and now he is back to being the normal Darwin."

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As well as his positive contributions against Southampton, Núñez spurned a number of half-chances and almost saw himself dismissed for a needless swipe at Kyle Walker-Peters late in the first half.

In his prematch news conference, Slot had described the visit of Southampton as "the first of three finals" his team would contest over the next week, with the second leg of Liverpool's Champions League round-of-16 tie with PSG to come on Tuesday before next weekend's Carabao Cup final against Newcastle United.

Supporters could be forgiven for thinking Slot was overstating the scale of the challenge facing his team, given that Southampton had amassed just nine points from 27 league games ahead of their trip to Merseyside.

But his words proved prophetic as Southampton grew into a cagey first half at Anfield, taking the lead on the stroke of half-time when Will Smallbone capitalised on an almighty mix-up between Alisson Becker and captain Virgil van Dijk to sidefoot the ball into an empty net.

After a first half filled with missed chances and a foolish yellow card, Darwin Núñez was the catalyst for Liverpool's latest comeback win that takes them 16 points clear in the title race. PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images

For much of the first half, it had all the hallmarks of being "one of those days" for Liverpool, with Curtis Jones drilling one effort agonisingly wide of the post before Aaron Ramsdale smothered Trent Alexander-Arnold's goal-bound shot.

But a rare miscommunication between the pair opened the door for Smallbone to slot the ball home in front of the Kop, stunning Anfield into silence.

Perhaps sharing in the supporters' ire, Núñez -- making his first league start since Boxing Day -- then petulantly chopped down full-back Walker-Peters, requiring Salah to haul him away from the incident while the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) assessed whether his yellow card should be upgraded to a red.

Fortunately for him and for Liverpool, it was deemed that no further punishment was required, but it was still a surprise to see him emerge for the second half.

Slot was quickly vindicated, though, for his decision to persevere, as the striker was on hand to poke the ball past Ramsdale following a fine run down the left from Díaz just six minutes after the interval.

Only three minutes later, Liverpool were ahead through a clinical Salah penalty, with Núñez having gone down under the clumsy challenge of Smallbone inside the area.
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