W STREAK – AND THAT’S BAD NEWS FOR THE REST

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rs recognise that summer signings like Fabinho and Shaqiri, on the mark with a neat finish, give the squad the strength in depth that has been their undoing in recent seasons.

It was last season’s superstar Salah who got the ball rolling here with a close-range finish in the 10th minute after pinball action in the area.

Cardiff were being totally dominated and, when Sadio Mane lashed in after the restart with a left-foor thunderbolt, the Reds were enjoying a whopping 82 per cent possession.

Yet somehow the Bluebirds found their way back into the game when Callum Paterson turned home Junior Hoilett’s deflected cross.

That set the crowd on edge but substitute Shaqiri , so influential in the 4-0 thrashing of Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League on Wednesday, MO SALAH has yellow fever – and that’s official.

The Liverpool ace continued his astonishing goal-a-game record when playing with a yellow ball instead of white. His goals-pergame record with the yellow ball is better than any other player ever. And settled the nerves with his first goal for the Reds since a summer move from Stoke.

Fed by Salah just inside the Cardiff box, Shaqiri’s quick feet created space and his left foot found the corner of the net, with the Kop sighing in relief.

Mane completed the rout with a delightful chip after being played in by Salah.

A comfortable win in the end but it that spells more bad news for Premier League defences with the yellow ball now in use until the clocks go forward again on March 31. Harry Kane averages a goal every 0.84 games, Thierry Henry 0.71, Luis Surarez 0.69, and Cristiano Ronaldo 0.63. felt at one point that Neil Warnock’s side could have stolen something from the game.

Maybe Liverpool were bored by the lack of challenge presented by the Welsh side for most of the 90 minutes.

Despite winning only once in the Premier League all season, Cardiff were content to sit back, allowing the Reds to have the ball.

“I don’t want to say boring but it’s more difficult than other games,” said Reds midfielder Wijnaldum.

“When you play a top team they will try to create chances so when you have the ball you will have more spaces to exploit.

“But Cardiff didn’t really press, they were marking the spaces and they had wingers who were like a left-back and right-back.

“It was difficult but we managed to score four goals so it was a good result.”