Liverpool turned on the style to put six goals past Aston Villa and climb back up to eighth place in the Premier League table.
Six different scorers featured in the 6-0 thrashing at Villa Park, including the returning Daniel Sturridge, who opened the scoring for his side early on.
Any hopes Villa had of overturning a two-goal deficit at the interval soon faded away, as a rampant Reds side with just one league win in six heading into Sunday’s game ran riot in the West Midlands.
It was a true Valentine’s Day Massacre for the hosts – their worst defeat at Villa Park in some 81 years, which leaves them eight points from safety with time fast running out.
It took until the 16 minute mark before the first attempt of any note arrived, and it led to the breakthrough moment as Sturridge got on the end of a lofted Philippe Coutinho cross and nodded the ball beyond Mark Bunn.
Less than two minutes later ex-Villa midfielder James Milner made it two when sending in a whipped free kick that found its way into the far corner without a touch.
Any lingering hopes home supporters did have of seeing their side show some fighting spirit to keep their survival aspirations alive soon evaporated, however, as Liverpool went on a 13-minute scoring blitz.
Emre Can let rip with a belter of a strike from the edge of the box to bag his first league goal of the campaign, before Coutinho thread the ball in behind for Divock Origi to join the party just 37 seconds after coming on.
There was far worse to come for the Villans when Nathaniel Clyne had two bites of the cherry, as a free kick into the box was once more poorly dealt with, allowing the full-back to convert after seeing his initial shot from close range kept out.
A welcome six-minute respite followed, but Kolo Toure piled on further misery when being given the simple task of diverting Jordan Henderson’s corner when left completely unmarked eight yards out.
Villa had not previously conceded five or more goals in a home league match since April 1991, adding to what has been a real season to forget for Remi Garde and his men.
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