Mohamed Salah was under the impression that Liverpool were on the verge of breaching Premier League rules by introducing a sixth substitute during their match on Saturday. The Egyptian star was frantically trying to halt the substitution until referee Lewis Smith clarified that manager was fully entitled to make the change.

Teams are typically restricted to five substitutions per game, a rule that was extended from three in 2020. Trailing 1-0 and striving to equalize against the league's bottom team, with Alexis Mac Allister, Harvey Elliott and Andrew Robertson replacing Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones and Konstantinos Tsimikas.

During the second half, Slot also brought on Diogo Jota and Wataru Endo, which would normally have exhausted his substitutions. This is why urgently tried to intervene when Jarell Quansah was poised on the sideline to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold in the 89th minute.

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It was only after match official Smith explained to Salah that due to Southampton making a concussion protocol substitution in the first half - Armel Bella-Kotchap for Jan Bednarek - both teams were allowed to make six changes. According to International Football Association Board (IFAB) regulations, a team attempting to exceed the permitted number of substitutions "must be prevented by the referee."

If a team is mistakenly allowed to surpass the limit, the substitutions must be reversed and the incident reported post-match.

Fortunately for Liverpool, all six of Slot's substitutions were deemed legitimate, avoiding any potential issues. The Reds also staged an impressive second-half comeback, scoring three goals to move closer to the Premier League title.

Darwin Nunez opened the scoring, followed by two penalty conversions from Salah, ultimately leaving the Saints with nothing. With this win, Liverpool now holds a 16-point lead, although they have played two more games than Arsenal, who face a Sunday match at Old Trafford.

"We were sloppy and slow in the first half," Salah reflected postgame. He added: "I don't think we played well today. If you want to win the Champions League or Premier League you have to win these games like that. The manager was a bit frustrated. His head was going for us. Southampton had a good game plan."