LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Liverpool moved six points clear at the top of the Premier League as the leaders eased past Newcastle 4-0 at Anfield and Manchester City were beaten for the second time in five days, 1-2 at Leicester.
Tottenham leapfrog City into second after thrashing Bournemouth 5-0, while Manchester United’s perfect start under caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer continued with Paul Pogba scoring twice in a 3-1 win over Huddersfield.
United are now just six points off the top five as Arsenal could only manage a 1-1 draw at Brighton.
Chelsea (40 points) are fourth after beating hosts Watford 2-1.
Liverpool Manager Jurgen Klopp has tried in recent days to stress that it is still far too early for his side to be talking of ending a near three-decade wait to win the title in December.
However, another routine win and a 12th clean sheet in 19 Premier League games will do little to dampen expectations ahead of a huge week for Liverpool, with Arsenal visiting Anfield on Saturday before a visit to City on January 3.
“We play City soon; if I was them I would think there is only four points because we still have to play them, then we play Arsenal before then as well,” said Klopp.
“The only thing that matters to us is the performance and keeping that level of performance. It’s good, but that’s all. Tottenham are flying — they had a difficult summer, but they are doing brilliant.”
After a slow start Liverpool went in front through an unlikely source when Dejan Lovren volleyed home after 12 minutes.
It was a far more familiar marksman who made the game safe when Mohamed Salah scored from the penalty spot before Xherdan Shaqiri and Fabinho’s first Liverpool goal rounded off the scoring.