Salah is star with Reds top of tree
JURGEN KLOPP’S men made sure they will sit top of the tree at Christmas as they sent an ominous message to their rivals.
Goals from Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk extended their lead at the top to four points and ensured they cannot be displaced as Christmas No1.
And the last four sides to be top of the pile when the Queen is making her speech ended up finishing champions.
Come May, it will have been 29 long years since the Reds won the title and while there is a long way to go, surely now they can dare to dream?
This was a well-earned victory against an enterprising Wolves.
Salah’s class strike set them on their way and then this Egyptian magician played a big hand in setting up Van Dijk’s clincher.
He looped a ball over from the edge of the box and ended up putting it straight into the big defender’s path.
The Dutchman did the rest, taking the ball before it dropped and sending a cushioned, leftfoot volley into the net.
Klopp would have underlined the dangers presented by a side newly promoted but sitting seventh in the league and with an impressive record against the big boys.
Tottenham had been the only side to beat them, with Nuno Espirito Santo’s men beating Chelsea and taking a point off both Manchester clubs and Arsenal.
With Wolves going into the game on the back of three consecutive wins and with the rain lashing down, the potential for a slip-up was there for all to see.
None more so than when substitute Morgan Gibbs-White was presented with a golden chance near the end but blasted into the side-netting.
Wolves had fired two or three warning shots across Liverpool’s bows when they were suddenly cut to ribbons down their left flank and Salah did the rest.
The opening exchanges all belonged to the home side and as early as the fourth minute Wolves so nearly made Fabinho pay for gifting the ball to Joao Moutinho.
He helped it on to Adama Traore, who beat keeper Alisson with an angled shot only to see it fly just wide.
A few minutes later, Raul Jimenez did brilliantly to kill the ball on his chest before sending the speedy Traore away again but this time his shot was well wide of the mark.
In the 13th minute, it was Wolves who went close again after a superb passing move that ended with Romain Saiss homing in on goal. Saiss got his shot in but once more Alisson was wise to it, even though it took a deflection off Dejan Lovren on its way.
Liverpool suddenly decided enough was enough and broke the deadlock in the 18th minute when Sadio Mane linked up superbly with Fabinho to unpick the Wolves defence.
Fabinho played the ball to Mane and then raced on to receive it back before sliding a perfect low cross towards the edge of the six-yard box where Salah was lurking.
You really cannot give a striker of his class that kind of room in the box and he cashed in, stabbing the ball into the bottom of the net with the outside of his left foot 14th goal of the season.
Wolves had two decent chances to equalise minutes before the break when Jonny was put through by Traore but, with Alisson left exposed, the Spaniard failed to curl it away from the big keeper’s grasp.
Alisson seemed determined not to be beaten – Matt Doherty putting in a stinger only to see the keeper clutch it to his chest.
Patricio; Bennett, Coady, Boly; Doherty, Neves, Saiss, Jonny (Vinagre 81); Moutinho (Gibbs-White 63); Traore (Cavaleiro 63), Jimenez.
WOLVES (3-4-1-2): LIVERPOOL (4-3-3):
Alisson; Milner, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Keita (Lallana 58); Mane (Clyne 86), Firmino (Wijnaldum 77), Salah. Salah 18, Van Dijk 68.
C Pawson (South Yorkshire).
Referee: Goals:
for his