Liverpool moved up to second in the Premier League with a 4-1 rout over West Ham.

Emre Can opened the scoring midway through the first half when he out-jumped Patrice Evra to head home a Mohamed Salah corner.

Salah would double that advantage after the break with his 20th left-footed goal of the season before Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane added to the tally.

Here were the key talking points from Anfield:

Ton-up Reds are laying down a marker

 

Whisper it, but Liverpool may finally be laying down a title challenge marker.

From 40 games in all competitions, they have now registered 103 goals by the end of February and appear in no danger of slowing down.

Registering four from as many different scorers against West Ham shows why Jurgen Klopp’s side may soon lay siege to their 101 league goals in 2013/14.

Keeping together an impressive forward line of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino may be easier said than done over the summer.

But if they can, the Reds will be a fair shout to challenge for next season’s Premier League.

Something truly special about Salah

 

One-footed players are often derided as limited in their abilities.

Try telling that to Salah after his latest record-breaking feats.

The Egyptian is now the first player to notch 20 league goals in a single season with his left foot since a certain Robbie Fowler in 1994/95.

That 51st-minute strike also helped him match Luis Suarez’s 31-goal haul in the 2013/14 campaign, when the title ultimately eluded Anfield.

Klopp may maintain that Lionel Messi possesses the best left foot in world football but Salah now cannot be far behind in those estimations.

Revenge is sweet for Karius

 

A four-goal thriller with the Hammers last season ultimately called time on Loris Karius’ error-strewn first spell as Liverpool’s leading goalkeeper.

One season on, against the same opposition, the German stopper showed why

Marko Arnautovic was a persistent thorn in the hosts’ side as he regularly broke through but could not find a way past Karius at every chance.

Karius comfortably dealt with a number of floated efforts from West Ham’s statue-esque forward to ensure Liverpool’s advantage was maintained.

Had he been confronted by such attempts just 14 months ago, few would have backed Anfield’s current number-one to emerge victorious.

Even Michail Antonio’s conciliatory strike on the hour mark cannot be attributed solely to him, with Liverpool’s defence far too high up the pitch.

Time doesn’t heal Evra animosity

 

A popular proverb in Patrice Evra’s homeland claims that ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’.

Never has that been truer than the France international’s relationship with Anfield on his latest outing since the infamous 2011 race row with Suarez.

Four times Evra has set foot in the red half of Merseyside in the aftermath of Suarez’s eight-game suspension and they refuse to let him forget it.

Widespread boos and chants for Suarez were among the polite reception afforded to the 36-year-old as the Hammers were comprehensively beaten.

Time may heal some wounds but it cannot ease Anfield’s animosity towards Evra.