Mohamed Salah was inevitably on the scoresheet as Liverpool took full advantage of the inactivity of their top-four rivals to thrash West Ham United 4-1 at Anfield on Saturday.
The victory provisionally moves the Merseyside club into second on the English Premier League table.
Leaders Manchester City will face Arsenal in the English League Cup final on Sunday, when Manchester United host Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur travel to Crystal Palace in the league.
This makes Juergen Klopp’s free scorers top 100 goals for the season in their 40th match.
Emre Can, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane also netted in another Liverpool goal rush that moved them 15 points behind Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
At the bottom of the table, the future of West Bromwich Albion manager Alan Pardew looks increasingly bleak after their 2-1 defeat at home to relegation rivals Huddersfield Town.
Swansea City crashed 4-1 at Brighton & Hove Albion and Bournemouth came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Newcastle United.
Liverpool’s win was not quite as routine as the scoreline suggested with West Ham occasionally threatening on another nerve-tingling Anfield afternoon.
However, David Moyes’ long wait for a first win at the ground continues.
Salah scored for the sixth successive game in all competitions.
His goal took him level with Harry Kane at the top of the English Premier League scoring charts with 23 this season.
But Can was equally influential in Liverpool’s win, heading the opener and laying on a superb through pass for Firmino to score Liverpool’s third.
Mane then chipped in with a fourth goal in two games.
“It is difficult to be top, Manchester City are too far away, but of course we want to finish second,” said the German.
His six league goals represent the best haul of his Liverpool career which could be in its final season as his contract expires at the end of the campaign.
Elsewhere, West Brom’s defeat will add to the pressure on manager Pardew whose side are now seven points off safety.
Rajiv van La Parra and Steve Mounie scored for Huddersfield, whose win moved them three points up the table, one point ahead of Newcastle United.
Rafa Benitez’s side looked to be guaranteed back-to-back victories for the first time since September after Dwight Gayle ended his recent goal drought by scoring twice before the interval.
Yet Adam Smith and former Newcastle United midfielder Dan Gosling completed an astonishing comeback by one of the league’s never-say-die specialists.
“It’s another point that nudges us towards where we want to be – every one could be vital at the end of the season,” said Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe.
Swansea also scored late at Brighton but Lewis Dunk’s own goal proved academic with the home side already 3-0 up.
Dutchman Juergen Locadia’s goal on his English Premier League debut completed the rout.
Swansea drop back into the relegation zone just ahead of Stoke City, who drew 1-1 with Leicester City.
It would have been better for Paul Lambert’s side had goalkeeper Jack Butland not parried the ball into his own net when under no obvious pressure.
The howler was made all the more embarrassing by the presence of former Stoke, Leicester and England legend Peter Shilton in the stands.
Manager Lambert refused to criticise his goalkeeper, whom he described as “the best in Britain”.
However, such an obvious howler will do little to help Butland secure the England jersey for the Russia 2018 World Cup.
At Turf Moor, Southampton’s Manolo Gabbiadini scored a 90th-minute equaliser as the visitors secured a nerve-jangling 1-1 draw at Burnley, who still await their first win of the year. (Reuters/NAN)
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