Liverpool saw off Fulham to rack up a fifth straight Premier League win.
Mohamed Salah settled matters from the penalty spot after Issa Diop had kicked out at Darwin Nunez just five minutes before half-time on Wednesday.
Jurgen Klopp’s side sit four points behind Manchester United in the race for a Champions League spot, having played two games more than their rivals.
Here were the key talking points from Anfield:
Reds find a different way to win
This encounter was a classic case of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’.
For the opening 20 minutes, Liverpool looked set to blow away Fulham in a style reminiscent of their flying start against London counterparts Tottenham.
But three days on from that seven-goal thriller, Jurgen Klopp’s side struggled to fully impose themselves despite peppering Bernd Leno’s goal at the outset.
In truth, a repeat of last weekend’s breathless win was unlikely to transpire with Darwin Nunez being the most notable change in the Reds’ line-up.
That Klopp was more indebted to Alisson’s sharp reflexes than Mohamed Salah’s decisive first-half penalty typified how imperfect an evening this was.
Going in search of a fifth straight Premier League victory this season always required a significant effort to keep Liverpool’s faint top four hopes alive.
Uninspiring though it was, they again found a different way of winning.
Nunez still far from thoroughbred
Klopp was quick to praise Nunez post-match, comparing him to a ‘racehorse’.
The Liverpool manager’s simile rang true after his latest marquee signing’s galloping had been key to winning the penalty that settled a languid contest.
Nunez, however, is still some way off being classed as a true thoroughbred among an Anfield front line which has an increasing embarrassment of riches.
His starring role against Fulham, only the 18th out of a possible 34 in the Premier League this term, offered hopes he may someday get up to speed.
For large parts of his 83 minutes on the pitch, the Uruguay international made himself a handful; routinely making surging runs towards the visitors’ goal.
Yet even the most hearty Kopite that was chanting Nunez’s name at regular intervals during this game would concede that things have not fully clicked.
There were signs on Wednesday that it still might but Liverpool’s no.27 is still some way off joining his attacking cohorts in taking a deserved victory lap.
Salah keeps Europa fears at bay
It has been seven years since the Europa League last graced Anfield’s grand stage and provided a valuable platform that galvanised Klopp’s nascent reign.
Given what has gone before, Liverpool’s return to the continent’s secondary club competition would not be as warmly received a second time around.
Home fans were offered a glimpse of that potential future in this uninspiring win over Fulham with a game where intensity and atmosphere sorely lacked.
Fortunately, Salah appears intent on dragging their side into a prime position to capitalise on any slip-ups for the final Champions League qualification spot.
His ninth goal in eight games at Anfield matched a feat previously achieved by only Luis Suarez, nine years ago, and Gordon Hodgson way back in 1927/28.
Salah is now fifth in the club’s all-time goal scorer list and just one away from a player for whom dropping out of Europe’s elite was equally inconceivable.
Steven Gerrard famously dragged Liverpool virtually single-handed into the Champions League’s latter stages with his late piledriver against Olympiacos.
Whether Salah emulates him remains to be seen but it will not be for a lack of trying.