Liverpool’ s Salah fires back to his pre-injury form

Mohamed Salah finally rediscovered his form – unfortunately too late for Liverpool’s Premier League title hopes – as Tottenham were dispatched in an occasionally slapdash 4-2 victory at Anfield.

A week ago it was all about the Egyptian off the pitch, with his touchline disagreement with Jurgen Klopp spilling over into his incendiary comment in the mixed zone which did little to calm the row.

But, restored to the team, Salah was in the form he’d shown prior to his January hamstring injury, engaged from the start and scoring the opener to become the club’s record goalscorer against Spurs.

He provided the assists for Andy Robertson and Harvey Elliott to net the second and fourth and gave makeshift left-back Emerson Royal such a torrid time the defender found himself singled out by team-mate Cristian Romero as they walked off at half-time, with goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario separating the pair.

While Romero was seemingly the only Tottenham defender willing to put his body in the way, he was not without fault as he was easily outjumped by Cody Gakpo for Liverpool’s third.

Goals by Richarlison and Son Heung-min in the space of five secondhalf minutes threatened a dramatic comeback, but the Reds deservedly held on for a first victory at Anfield since April 4.

● Chelsea kept up their electric goalscoring form at home and boosted their hopes of European football with a 5-0 thrashing of West Ham.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side have now scored 22 times in their last six league games at Stamford Bridge, and there was a fluency to their attacking play that could well have yielded substantially more than the five they put past the hapless visitors.

Chelsea were three up at the break. First, Cole Palmer netted his 21st league goal after steering a loose ball into the corner, then Conor Gallagher volleyed home.

Noni Madueke headed the third before Nicolas Jackson took his tally for the season to 13 in the league with a brace after the interval.

● Aston Villa’s quest for Champions League qualification suffered a setback after Joao Pedro ended Brighton’s sixmatch Premier League winless run with a dramatic 87th-minute winner.

Villa, who are juggling their top-flight commitments with a run to the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League, laboured for large parts of a tight south-coast encounter and were beaten 1-0 after Pedro headed home the rebound after his late penalty had been saved by Robin Olsen.

Salah is Reds’ record goalscorer against Spurs.