Liverpool moved seven points clear at the top of the Premier League as they came from behind to beat Leicester 3-1 at Anfield.
The Reds got off to a slow start when Jordan Ayew gave Leicester a surprise lead in six minutes, turning and completing well past Alisson after clever paintings from Stephy Mavididi.
It was a lead the Foxes held until first-half stoppage time, when Cody Gakpo was allowed to right-foot it and finish with a brilliant finish just outside the box.
It looked like a hard blow and it proved it, as Liverpool stepped up after the break. They led five minutes after the restart, when Alexis Mac Allister’s backlash ripped through Curtis Jones from close range. A goal that was proven after a long VAR review.
An even longer and more painful control denied Gakpo his second, with Darwin Nunez offside in the build-up, but the result was cleared up when Mohamed Salah scored in characteristic fashion, locating the far corner with a left-foot move.
While Chelsea lost to Fulham the day before, Liverpool now have a seven-point lead over the Blues with a game in hand. Arsenal have the opportunity to lead the Reds by six points, but they too have played a game. further.
For Leicester, who had slipped into the bottom three after Wolves’ win over Manchester United, it is now one win from the last 10 in the league and Ruud van Nistelrooy has plenty of work to do, although he was not helped here by the absence of leading scorer Jamie Vardy through injury.
Liverpool looked serious from the start, with Salah’s volley from Gakpo going through Jakub Stolarczyk, making his league debut after former Liverpool goalkeeper Danny Ward left the team after suffering defeat to Wolves.
But if the hosts thought that had set the tone they were badly mistaken after being opened up with such simplicity in only the sixth minute.
Stephy Mavididi broke down the left and his low cross picked out Ayew, who turned Andy Robertson far too easily, with his shot deflecting off Virgil van Dijk to take it just out of Alisson Becker’s reach.
With a surprise lead to cling to Leicester knew they had to quell the storm heading their way and they began by trying to take as much time out of the game as they could, much to Anfield’s frustration.
It took Liverpool another 18 minutes to threaten, with Gakpo coming in from the left to fire over, a precursor to what was to follow just before the break.
That was the prompt for the attacks to rain down on the Foxes goal, with Salah’s shot looping up off Victor Kristiansen and landing on the roof of the net and Robertson heading against a post.
Gakpo’s inclination to come in off the left was proving a problem for the visitors, doing their utmost to resist the pressure, but when Salah curled a shot onto the crossbar on the stroke of half-time it appeared they had survived.
However, Gakpo dropped down the flank to receive a pass from Alexis Mac Allister before completing what would be his trademark effort over Stolarczyk and inside the far post.
At the start of the second half, Darwin Nunez fired in a cross from Ryan Gravenberch before Jones hit a cross from Mac Allister after a complex pass play into the penalty area involving Nunez, Salah and the foreign Argentine.
Leicester’s ambition remained limited, but Patson Daka did better in a two-on-one counterattack with Mavididi, but completely missed his shot with the goal looming.
Nunez forced a save from the goalkeeper before Gakpo ruined what he thought was his moment only for VAR to rule Nunez offside in the build-up.
But Liverpool’s third goal finally came thanks to Salah’s left foot, which beat Kristiansen, inside Jannick Vestergaard and Stolarczyk at the far post.
Additional reporting by PA Sport.
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