Ipswich 0 Liverpool 2: Arne Slot’s era gets underway with well-deserved win as hosts endure tough Premier League return

MO SALAH loves the opening day of a Premier League season.

The Liverpool striker must almost wake up each morning ahead of the big kick-off like a kid does on Christmas Day.

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Ipswich Town welcomed Liverpool to Portman Road for their first Premier League game in 20 years[/caption]

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The Tractor Boys battled valiantly for just shy of an hour[/caption]

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But Diogo Jota breached their defence on the 60-minute mark[/caption]

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Mohamed Salah doubled the Merseysiders’ lead five minutes later[/caption]

He celebrated his 350th game for the Reds by scoring for a record NINTH time on the first day of the season.

His 65th-minute strike put to bed a game that at one point was starting to look very worrying for boss Arne Slot in his first game in charge since taking over from the legendary Jurgen Klopp.

That is 212 Liverpool goals now for the 32-year-old Egyptian. And, with no new signings yet to boost the Anfield ranks, fans are sighing with relief that talk of him moving to the big-money Saudi Arabian league has relented.

His strike, following Diogo Jota’s opener five minutes earlier, killed off what had up until then been an extremely impressive first game back in the Premier League for Ipswich after 22 years.

In the end, it was the difference in quality in the top end of the pitch that told. Ipswich missed some great chances while Liverpool, once they clicked into gear after the break, took theirs.

It was ironic the Tractor Boys were hosting the Reds for their Prem return as their last game in the top flight was at Anfield in May 2002.

Ipswich were smashed 5-0 that day – but Kieran McKenna’s side fared far better this time.

McKenna has performed a near miracle since he took charge two-and-a-half years ago at the Suffolk club.

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Just over a year ago, they were plying their trade in League One … and McKenna started SEVEN of the squad that won promotion from League One.

They are riding the crest of a wave, picking up 194 points across their last two seasons. You can bet your life that McKenna will be happy with 45 this time around.

Slot has far higher expectations. Anything other than challenging among the top three or four will be seen as a disaster. 

And Liverpool were sloppy early on.

Virgil Van Dijk was ropey in possession and passed the ball straight into the path of Omari Hutchinson, who latched on to it but his shot was charged down.

Then Conor Chaplin saw a threaded pass fail to be cut out by Andy Robertson with the ball finding its way to Wes Burns. The Liverpool defender barged the Ipswich man off the ball 20 yards out but ref Tim Robinson saw nothing wrong.

Hutchinson then charged powerfully forward but his pass was undercooked with Conor Chaplin free on the left overlap.

Liverpool though caused problems when Jota threaded in Salah but Jacob Greaves, a summer signing from Hull, was there to block.

Ipswich had a chance to move in front after Robertson gave away an unnecessary foul on the right.

And Sam Morsy’s free-kick was met by a header by Greaves – but the defender’s effort was kept out by Alisson on his goalline.

Nothing seemed to be going for Liverpool. Slot would have been disappointed that when they won a corner on the left, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s set piece may as well just be catching practice for keeper Christian Walton.

Ipswich – who were devastating on the counter-attack last season – almost caught Liverpool out after breaking another corner-kick routine.

Delap sent Hutchinson racing away – but Liverpool managed to get two defenders back quickly to thwart him from making a return pass to his unmarked team-mate.

Walton – who was one of Ipswich’s League One promotion heroes but then got injured and lost the shirt to Vaclav Hladky and did not feature last season – was having an excellent game.

He did superbly to snuff out Luiz Diaz as he looked set to pounce.

Axel Tuanzebe then saw a header just clear the bar after an excellent Leif Davis cross from the left. 

Alexander-Arnold, after finding a pocket space 25 yards out, hammered an effort over the bar.

Ipswich were doing a number on their illustrious opponents – so much so that Liverpool only mustered just three shots in the entire first half, none on target

Slot brought on Ibrahima Konate for Jarrell Quansah during the break. It can only be assumed the defender had picked up a knock because the 21-year-old had been decent.

Ipswich hearts were in mouths when Diaz found space from a corner but saw his shot charged down and then another effort moments after flash over.

Ipswich fans were appealing for a penalty when Delap went down in the box under a challenge – but the offside flag was raised with Davis fractionally offside.

And then it was the turn of Liverpool to shout for a penalty when Alexander-Arnold played in Diaz, who dinked a shot over the bar before being clipped by Walton.

Liverpool were ramping the pressure up.

Jota got on the end of a beautiful cross from Alexander-Arnold but headed barely an inch wide.

And then came the goal that was coming.

Alexander-Arnold passed inside to Salah, who slotted a nice ball through for Jota to slam home. 

And then the provider Salah put the game to bed to keep up his brilliant opening-day record.

Picking up a lovely long pass from Van Dijk, he exchanged a quick one-two with Dominik Szoboszlai before firing home.

Ipswich were really flagging at this point and Salah missed a chance to net again but his effort was too tame for Walton

Liverpool were cutting their opponents open at will and had it not been for Walton’s heroics it could have got embarrassing – making another top stop to deny Conor Bradley.