Roberto Firmino scored a hat-trick as Liverpool ran out 5-1 winners over Arsenal.

Ashley Maitland-Niles broke the deadlock by sliding home Alex Iwobi’s cross to the far post after a poor Reds clearance had allowed the visitors to break.

But the Gunners’ lead lasted all of three minutes as Firmino capitalised on a ricocheting ball to equalise before taking the lead with a brilliant individual effort.

Jurgen Klopp’s side further increased the advantage when Andy Robertson sent a long diagonal ball for Mohamed Salah to tee up Sadio Mane for a third goal.

In first-half stoppage time Liverpool won a penalty which Mohamed Salah converted after Sokratis Papastathopoulos had fouled the Egyptian.

Firmino earned the match ball when he also converted from 12 yards as Sokratis again conceded yet another spot kick, this time pulling down Dejan Lovren.

Here were the key talking points from Anfield:

Title is now the Reds’ to lose

 

The Premier League title has now officially become Liverpool’s to lose.

A nine-point lead is by no means unassailable with 18 games remaining, but it is hard to envisage Jurgen Klopp’s side surrendering such a position of power.

Results elsewhere are making the task even easier than previously thought, with Manchester City and Tottenham’s recent misfortunes conspiring in their favour.

Even setbacks are proving increasingly short-lived with Arsenal’s advantage enduring for barely three minutes, and their level-pegging status even less so.

Confidence is growing both on the pitch and in the stands that Anfield’s near three-decade wait for domestic success grows tantalisingly closer by the game.

Firmino steps into the Suarez void

 

When Liverpool last went in pursuit of the title, it was a South American playing on the edge that largely drove them towards a lengthy stint at top spot.

Luis Suarez may be long gone but in his place, Roberto Firmino has stepped up. The Brazilian played like a man possessed to overturn the Gunners’ early lead.

His equaliser was more fortuitous than fantastic, with the ball pinging around the Arsenal box, but the same cannot be said for his second goal of the evening.

Capitalising on a Stephan Lichsteiner mistake, Firmino bore down on Bernd Leno’s goal and took on three players before sending Anfield into rapture.

No Brazilian player has scored more goals in the Premier League’s history than Liverpool’s current no.9. That Suarez-shaped hole may have finally been filled.

Van Dijk on course to emulate Salah

 

When the annual awards are doled out in May, it is currently difficult to look beyond Virgil van Dijk as the outstanding candidate for Player of the Year.

The Dutchman will be merely taking over where Mohamed Salah left off as another player whose hefty price tag has already been handsomely repaid.

He remains imperious at the heart of Liverpool’s defence, evidenced by restricting Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to just six touches of the ball in the first half.

It did not get much better for the Arsenal forward after the interval with only a further seven before he was replaced by Alexandre Lacazette on 70 minutes.

Personal accolades count for precious little if not backed up by success. Salah and Suarez discovered that to their cost as Liverpool fell short in the league.

But few would bet against Van Dijk succeeding where his predecessors failed.

City clash now an extra statement of intent

 

Although the emphatic score line and matching performance may not have suggested it, one eye was invariably on the Etihad Stadium in this encounter.

Thursday’s showdown with Manchester City was always billed as a potential title decider but it is now far more than that for Liverpool; it’s a statement of intent.

Beat Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions on their own turf for a second time in nine months and no one can dispute that Klopp’s side are now the real deal.

It worked once before in confirming Liverpool’s return to prominence in the Champions League and can do the same for their championship ambitions.