Talking pointsMatip's moment, Salah sets sights on Owen, central Sadio and more

Wednesday’s match at Anfield represented the Reds’ game in hand on City and they maximised the opportunity to close the gap in emphatic fashion.

Mohamed Salah (two penalties), Joel Matip, Sadio Mane (two) and Virgil van Dijk got the goals.

Here are five talking points on the action from L4…

‘Matip!’

It had been coming.

Matip’s languid waltzes forward from the heart of Liverpool’s defence have become something of a trademark and it felt like a matter of time until the No.32 rounded one such run off with a goal.

The moment finally arrived with half an hour played. The centre-back coasted upfield, played a one-two with Salah and duly lifted an ice-cool, first-time finish over Illan Meslier.

His teammates’ delight was mirrored in the stands and the Kop even bestowed a chant usually reserved for Anfield royalty - aka Sir Kenny Dalglish - upon the goalscorer.

Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap… Matip!

Owen next in Salah’s sights

Salah’s first-half double from the spot took him above Harry Chambers and into ninth place in the club’s all-time top goalscorers list.

The Egyptian has now scored 152 times for the Reds and has done so in just 234 appearances, making his goals-to-games ratio the best in the club’s history.

Michael Owen (158 goals) is next in the sights of Salah, whose electric form in 2021-22 has yielded 27 goals in 31 matches across all competitions.

His assist for Matip on Wednesday also means he has reached 10+ goals and 10+ assists in a Premier League season for the third time, after previously achieving that feat in 2017-18 and 2019-20.

Central Sadio

With Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota sidelined, Mane was again deployed in the middle of Liverpool’s front three.

And, just like versus Norwich City four days ago, he got on the scoresheet, with both of his goals on Wednesday also coming from a classic No.9 area.

The Senegalese’s first was a poacher’s effort that finished off a pinpoint, and unselfish, delivery from Jordan Henderson, while his second was a product of his striker’s instinct as he followed in and slotted home the loose ball after Divock Origi had been thwarted.

Mane has now scored 11 Premier League goals this season – a running total bettered by only two players in the division, his teammates Salah and Jota.

Nine in a row

Wednesday’s win was Liverpool’s ninth in a row since the 0-0 draw with Arsenal in the Carabao Cup in mid-January – the first time for a shade over two years that the Reds have reeled off nine consecutive victories.

Those successes have featured 25 goals scored and only three conceded, as well as six clean sheets.

The Reds are on a roll.

Fifty up for Thiago

Restored to the starting XI following his jaw-droppingly good display off the bench against Norwich, Thiago Alcantara marked his 50th appearance for Liverpool with a typically classy display.

The No.6’s 67-minute runout included 63 touches, 54 passes (with a success rate of 92.6 per cent), four accurate long balls, five tackles and one interception.

Thirty-two of Thiago’s games for the Reds have ended in victory and Anfield stood to acclaim another outstanding performance when he was substituted midway through the second half.