Twenty-year-old Conor Bradley scored his first goal for Liverpool and then set up one for Dominik Szoboszlai as Jürgen Klopp’s team moved five points clear at the top of the Premier League table with a 4-1 thrashing of Chelsea on Wednesday.
Liverpool, who are unbeaten at Anfield this season in all competitions, have 51 points after 22 games. Manchester City, who have a game in hand, are second and level on points with third-place Arsenal with 46. Chelsea are 10th with 31.
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In a dominant display for the hosts, Liverpool forward Darwin Núñez also hit the post with a first-half penalty and made history by becoming the first player since OPTA records began in 2003 to strike the woodwork four times in a single Premier League match .
Liverpool played with such intensity from the opening whistle, their stifling press had Chelsea struggling to get out of their own half.
While Núñez peppered Chelsea’s goal with seven shots in the first half, it was Diogo Jota who broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute when he bundled past a couple of Chelsea defenders to score.
Bradley whipped the Anfield fans into a frenzy in the 39th minute when he hammered home an angled shot to the far corner after a surging run.
The youngster from Northern Ireland then left a defender in his wake in the 65th minute before launching a pinpoint cross that Szoboszlai leapt to head past Djordje Petrovic.
Christopher Nkunku pulled one back in the 71st, but Liverpool’s Luis Díaz replied with a goal eight minutes later that sent many of the Blues fans in attendance to the exits.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
