It was a one-way traffic in the Merseyside Derby on Wednesday night when Liverpool travelled to Goodison Park to face Everton and routed their hosts 4-1.
Thanks to goals from Jordan Henderson, Diogo Jota and a brace from Mohammed Salah, who cannot stop scoring or assisting ensured the Reds' continuous fine form, despite Demarai Gray pulling one back for the Toffees at 2-0 down.
Gray and Richarlison, who was just returning from suspension were the changes made by manager, Rafael Benitez to his side that lost against Southampton, dropping Alex Iwobi and Anthony Gordon to the bench.
Ibrahima Konate was the only missing face from the starting lineup from Liverpool's last game as Joel Matip came in as his replacement to partner Virgil van Dijk in the heart of the Liverpool defence.
A mix up at the back between goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford and right back, Seamus Coleman almost costed the hosts an early goal. The resulting corner from Trent Alexander Arnold was met by Matip at the near post, but he couldn't guide his header on target.
Another error at the back almost gave Benitez's men away when Andros Townsend tamely touched the ball back to Coleman and did not see Jota coming. The Liverpool attacker pounced on the ball and sent a cross in for Salah, who was caught between meeting the ball with his head or leg. He went with the latter and volleyed well wide.
Three minutes later in the 8 minute, it was the Egyptian who got another sniff at goal when Sadio Mane beat Coleman on the left side of the Liverpool attack. His cross was met by a one-time low shot from Salah, giving Pickford no real work to make the save.
About 60 seconds after that chance, the visitors took the lead through Jordan Henderson, who started the move with a ball out wide to Mane, who then releases Andy Robertson and the Scot cuts the ball back to the edge of the area where Henderson was arriving. The Liverpool captain didn't need an extra touch to hit a crisp left-footed ball into the left corner.
Liverpool continued with the pressure despite the early goal and Alexander Arnold would force a two-handed save from Pickford from a Salah lay off moments later.
Just a minute before the 20 minute mark, the lead was doubled for Liverpool and a regular culprit, Salah, finishing off a swift counterattack. Godfrey had lost the ball in the middle and Henderson immediately released Salah on the right, who raced into the box and lobbed a curling effort past the on-rushing Pickford into the left corner.
Everton looked to have woken from their slumber and were about to give us something to look forward to when they pulled one back with seven minutes of the first half left. The returning Richarlison hit a through ball to Gray, who found space between the two Liverpool centre backs and slotted past Alisson Becker, who had rushed out to close him down.
The game was beginning to gather momentum in the closing stages of the first half as both teams saw last minute blocks deny them goals in additional time of the first half. Godfrey had blocked a goal-bound header from Mane, before Thiago Alcantara blocked Abdoulaye Doucoure's effort at the far post.
It took the visitors four minutes after the hour mark to restore their 2-goal lead. Again, lack of concentration from Everton and Gray's pass to Coleman in the middle was poor, leading to a bad first touch by the latter, which was pounced on by Salah. The Liverpool forward raced through on goal and under pressure from the recovering Coleman, he sneaked the ball below Pickford into the bottom right corner.
Jota would continue his impressive run of goalscoring form in the 79th minute as he put the game beyond Everton's reach with a fourth. What looked like a short pass to him from Robertson, he stretched to maintain possession, shrugging off the attention of Allan and dragging the ball towards an acute angle on the left, before firing into the roof of the net above Pickford to confirm three points for Klopp's men.
**Concluding Thoughts**
It was another classy Liverpool performance as they maintained touch with the log leaders, retaining their third position, following wins by both Chelsea and Manchester City in first and second positions respectively.
The amazing Reds continued their impressive scoring record as they have now scored at least two goals in their last 18 matches in all competitions and already have 43 goals in the League alone this season, 10 more than the second best, Chelsea.
It's going from bad to worse for Rafa Benitez as he saw his side Slip to their third consecutive league defeat. They have managed just one point from their last five games, leaving the former Liverpool boss' job under threat.
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