A second half onslaught saw Liverpool run out 2-0 winners over Chelsea.
Sadio Mane opened the scoring five minutes after the interval with a far-post header from a Jordan Henderson cross after good work by Mohamed Salah.
Minutes later, Salah found himself on the score sheet with a stunning 30-yard effort to round off Jurgen Klopp’s 200th game as Reds manager with a victory.
Here were the key talking points from Anfield:
Revenge is sweet for Salah
Actions, rather than words, are said to the best way to respond to your critics; against Chelsea, Mohamed Salah did so in truly emphatic fashion.
During a week where the Liverpool forward had been on the receiving end of unsavoury chants from fans of his former club, he was able to truly silence them.
Not only did the Egyptian score a 30-yard thunderbolt just minutes after Sadio Mane had broken the deadlock, he played like a man possessed throughout.
Salah’s starring role was not restricted to his sumptuous effort, either; it was his lay-off to Jordan Henderson which set the wheels in motion for Mane’s goal.
The Egyptian has now scored as many times against the Londoners as he managed for them. That will stick in their throat as much as his wonder strike.
Chelsea finally act the clown
Nearly five years on from talk of ‘clowns’ and ‘circuses’, no one could accuse Liverpool of falling into the same trap against Chelsea this time around.
Jose Mourinho’s invective about Anfield has become the stuff of legend when events of 2014 are recounted. History was never going to repeat itself here.
The Reds were evenly matched against their visitors in the first half but took things up another level following the break with a quick-fire double.
Save for an Eden Hazard effort hitting the post just minutes after Salah extended the hosts’ lead, Chelsea offered precious little when they were on the front foot.
Substitute Gonzalo Higuain floundered while Ross Barkley’s return to his former Merseyside parish was ineffectual at best and forgettable to say the least.
If anyone was guilty of becoming the laughing stock, it was Maurizio Sarri’s side.
Henderson making up for lost time
Time may not be a great healer in the context of Liverpool’s 2014 title hurt.
Steven Gerrard’s slip remains the abiding memory of that previous, failed bid but it is not the overriding ‘what if’ moment when that Chelsea game is revisited.
That dubious honour belongs to Gerrard’s direct successor, Jordan Henderson.
Suspension ruled Henderson out of the 2014 run-in and arguably was the greatest loss in a midfield that lost the energy and drive he often provided.
The dynamism the England international showed in that spell returned with a vengeance this week, both against Chelsea and Porto in the Champions League.
His floated cross for Mane was proof that Jurgen Klopp’s decision to push Henderson further forward in his midfield line-up is not without its merits.
Liverpool’s captain remains guilty of a lot of things but accusations that he has not atoned for past failings, especially one that are not his own, ring hollow.
Another test passed for Van Dijk
Virgil van Dijk is expected to met his match sooner rather than later.
The trouble is, sooner never seems to come for Liverpool’s defensive totem.
Even a player widely considered Europe’s best right now in Hazard failed to unnerve Van Dijk throughout and centre-back partner Joel Matip for large parts.
Chelsea’s false nine was rendered more of a false prophet as he struggled to force a way past the Holland captain, who also had the measure of Willian.
If, as seems likely, he comes up against Lionel Messi in the Champions League semi-final, Barcelona’s talisman is likely to hold no fears for Van Dijk either.