Liverpool's lead in the Premier League has grown to a surely unassailable 16 points, while Mohamed Salah's lead in the Golden Boot race is now up to seven goals.

Both races are turning into a procession after Salah converted two second-half penalties for his 26th and 27th goals of the campaign to clinch a 3-1 win for Liverpool at home to last-placed Southampton on Saturday.

It's now just a matter of when, not if, Liverpool secure a record-tying 20th English top-flight championship, even if Arsenal ? way back in second place ? have two games in hand.

Liverpool have nine games left but surely won't need all of them to seal the title.

A more staggering statistic is that Manchester City, winners of the last four titles, are now 23 points behind the Reds after a 1-0 loss at third-placed Nottingham Forest, whose late winner came from Callum Hudson-Odoi in the 83rd at the City Ground.

City are fourth and have a fight on their hands just to finish in the top five, which should be enough to qualify for the Champions League this season.

Erling Haaland had a quiet match and ? stuck on 20 goals ? is now struggling to be the league's top scorer for the third straight season.

Instead, it's Salah heading for another Golden Boot, which he won outright in 2017-18 and shared in 2018-19 and 2021-22. He's now up to 184 EPL goals, tied with City great Sergio Aguero at No.5 on the all-time list.

Liverpool's game against Southampton came in the middle of two matches in a six-day span against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League's last 16.

The Merseysiders hold a 1-0 lead after the first leg in Paris on Wednesday and manager Arne Slot opted against mass rotation ahead of the return match on Tuesday. Indeed, Salah played the whole match.

Darwin Nunez started after setting up Harvey Elliott's winner in the French capital and scored himself in the 51st minute, cancelling out Will Smallbone's shock opener for Southampton in first-half added time.

Nunez then was fouled for the first penalty slotted home by Salah in the 54th, before the Egypt star notched his second in the 88th after a handball.

"When I look at the game against PSG, we have to go one step up in terms of intensity and compared to the game today, we need to go five, six, seven steps up in terms of intensity (in the Champions League second leg on Tuesday) if we want to have any chance of reaching the next round," said frustrated Liverpool boss Slot.

Southampton stayed 13 points from safety and look destined for an immediate return to the Championship.

Forest, who were battling relegation last season, moved four points clear of City and have 10 games remaining as they look to get back into Europe's top competition, which they famously won in 1979 and '80 under Brian Clough.

Elsewhere, Joao Pedro converted a penalty in the eighth minute of added time to earn Brighton & Hove Albion a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Fulham and lift his team to sixth place ? level on points with fifth-placed Chelsea.

Aston Villa are a point behind in seventh after winning 1-0 at Brentford, with Ollie Watkins scoring from a deflected shot in the 49th against his former club.

Crystal Palace beat Ipswich Town 1-0 thanks to Ismaila Sarr's 82nd-minute goal, while fourth-from-last Wolverhampton Wanderers pushed six points clear of the relegation zone after drawing 1-1 with Everton in the late game.

With PA.