Liverpool beat Bournemouth 4-0 to move five points clear at the top of the Premier League, and went into Sunday on a 14-game unbeaten run in the league.
The visitors were frustrated in the first half with few scoring chances, but they stepped up a gear after the break with two goals from Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota.
Nunez ripped through the Bournemouth defence with some deft passing to make it 1-0 in the 49th minute, before the influential Jota put the game out of the hosts’ reach with two fine finishes in the 70th and 79th minutes.
Uruguayan Nunez scored his second goal in the final minutes, sealing Liverpool’s dominant performance.
Liverpool have 48 points from 21 games, while champions Manchester City, Arsenal and Aston Villa have 43 points.
City still have one game left against Jurgen Klopp’s side. Bournemouth are currently in the12th place with 25 points.
Klopp admitted he was not satisfied with what he saw in the first half, but was satisfied with his side showing they were good enough even without top scorer Mohamed Salah.
“We didn’t have enough flexibility in the first half and it wasn’t a good game. I told them at half-time that it wasn’t good,” Klopp said.
“We changed our formation in the second half and suddenly became more fluid. After we scored the goal, everything looked different. That was great for both Darwin and Diogo.”
Bournemouth’s Justin Kluivert was engaged in the main first-half action, breaking away with a hefty tackle on Luis Diaz and almost scoring for the hosts.
Liverpool moved Nunez to a more central role after the break, and it quickly paid off. Curtis Jones sent off a long ball to Jota, who found Nunez with a first-time pass, and the finish was never in doubt.
Jota made it 2-0 when Cody Gakpo found him, and the Portuguese scored again with a clever finish after missing his original attempt after being set up by Premier League debutant Conor Bradley, who took his chance in the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Joe Gomez provided the assist for Nunez’s second volley in finishing time, making Nunez the first player to score 10 goals and provide 10 assists for a Premier League club in all competitions this season.