Liverpool have provided another convincing statement in their title challenge with a dominant 5-1 win over Arsenal at Anfield on Saturday.
The Reds stormed back from a goal behind to chalk up a ninth successive Premier League victory which takes them nine points clear at the top of the table after Tottenham Hotspur fell to defeat at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier in the day.
Arsenal took the lead after only 11 minutes through Ainsley Maitland-Niles, but from then on it was all about Liverpool and within four minutes they had turned things around courtesy of a quickfire brace from Roberto Firmino.
Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah got in on the act before half time to leave Liverpool in complete control, and Firmino completed his hat-trick after the break as Jurgen Klopp’s side brought a memorable 2018 to a close in style.
For Arsenal it was another embarrassing defeat away to a top-six rival as they were swept aside by the rampant Reds, leaving them still two points adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea in the race for Champions League football.
Arsenal struggled to live with the pace during the opening 10 minutes, but a misplaced pass from Fabinho gifted them a foothold in the game as Alex Iwobi proceeded to draw a low save from Alisson Becker and the fit-again Shkodran Mustafi almost beat the Liverpool keeper to the resulting corner.
It was another mistake which allowed Arsenal to take the lead moments later when Dejan Lovren’s pass forward was cut out, and Iwobi then exchanged passes down the left flank before whipping a brilliant ball into the box which Ainsley Maitland-Niles tapped home at the back post.
It was only the third goal Liverpool had conceded at Anfield this season and the first time they had fallen behind in a home league game all year, but they trailed for less than three minutes as Jurgen Klopp’s side roared back in devastating fashion.
The hosts were given a helping hand by some shambolic Arsenal defending, though, and Firmino’s first goal saw Stephan Lichtsteiner play the ball against Mustafi, which sent it bouncing past Bernd Leno and left the Brazilian with a simple finish from close range.
Liverpool had turned things around just 90 seconds later as Firmino made it a quickfire double, and this time it was all down to his own sparkling footwork as he danced past two defenders before slotting his finish past Leno.
Suddenly Liverpool looked rampant and Sadio Mane drew another save from Leno before adding a third goal for the hosts shortly after the half-hour mark. Robertson’s raking diagonal ball forward beat the entire Arsenal defence, allowing Salah to cushion a volley into the path of Mane for a simple finish.
Liverpool effectively killed the game off as a contest right on the stroke of half time when they made it four from the penalty spot.
Salah darted in behind Sokratis Papastathopoulos before being bundled over inside the area by a clumsy challenge from behind, and the Egyptian dusted himself off to fire the spot kick straight down the middle – a goal which saw him draw level with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Harry Kane in the Golden Boot race.
Arsenal did begin to settle into the second half and could have pulled a goal back when Ramsey was slipped through by Granit Xhaka, only to see his chipped finish – which was heading wide – somehow poked over the crossbar from point-blank range by an offside Aubameyang.