Liverpool 4-1 Cardiff: Talking points

Mohamed Salah opened the scoring, Sadio Mane claimed a brace and Xherdan Shaqiri bagged his first Reds strike during a pleasing afternoon’s work for Jürgen Klopp’s side.

Here are a handful of talking points from the game…

The end of a record…

Callum Paterson’s close-range finish ended Liverpool’s run of no league goals conceded at Anfield since Michail Antonio struck for West Ham United back in February – with a whopping 918 minutes between the two.

The Reds’ streak did equal a club record of nine successive top-flight clean sheets at home, last achieved between November 2006 and February 2007.

Overall, Liverpool’s undefeated run in L4 now stands at 26 Premier League games.

Mo on the mark. Again…

It’s fair to say Salah is firmly back in the goalscoring groove.

The Egyptian broke the deadlock after just 10 minutes of the contest at Anfield, reacting to turn in a loose ball inside the area from close range.

It was his fourth goal in three games since returning from the international break – and his seventh of the season so far.

Salah’s overall record at Anfield is truly remarkable. He’s now netted 33 times in his previous 35 home appearances, and 22 of those have come in his last 19.

He also claimed two assists against Cardiff, too…

If at first you don’t succeed…

They say persistence pays off – and that was certainly the case for Mane.

The forward looked to have all avenues blocked off by Cardiff defenders when he collected the ball just inside the box and attempts to lay the ball off or move into space were being thwarted with 66 minutes gone.

But Mane kept going and eventually found half a yard to enable him to absolutely rifle an effort across goal and into the far corner, giving Liverpool a very welcome second.

He made it a brace when he raced away and chipped Salah’s through-ball over Neil Etheridge to take his tally seven for the campaign – which, by the way, was also his 50th in the Premier League - in his 13th outing.

It took him until his 16th appearance to reach the same number last season when he struck a double against Spartak Moscow at Anfield in December.

Shaq’s up and running…

Shaqiri couldn’t have come any closer to grabbing his first goal for Liverpool against Southampton last month, but he registered his maiden effort for the club this afternoon.

The playmaker came off the bench and bagged the crucial third for the Reds with a lovely Kop-end finish.

And if you’re into your facts – and why wouldn’t you be? - Shaqiri is the first Switzerland international to have scored a competitive goal for the club, with our only two other players from the country – Stephane Henchoz and Philipp Degen – not managing the feat.

Gini the pass master…

Georginio Wijnaldum was in the thick of the action for Liverpool today as the hosts needed to be patient in their build-up for long periods.

The Netherlands midfielder made more passes than anyone else on the field with 118 – and an impressive completion rate of 94.1 per cent.

To put this into further context, Cardiff made 205 passes as a team in total.

Trent Alexander-Arnold was the man Wijnaldum supplied the most, with the No.5 sending the ball in the direction of the full-back 21 times over the course of the afternoon.

Back in top spot…

With Manchester City not in action until Monday night when they travel to Tottenham Hotspur, today’s victory moved Liverpool clear at the top of the Premier League table.

The Reds are three points ahead of Pep Guardiola’s men having played a game more and they remain undefeated after 10 games played.

A long, long way to go, but a fine start for Klopp and his team.