Defending champions, Liverpool yesterday thrashed Crystal Palace 7-0 to record their first away win in the Premier League since September and move a provisional six points clear at the top.
Liverpool registered an away top-flight win by a margin of seven goals for the first time in their history. It was their first league victory by a margin of that size or greater since a 9-0 win over Crystal Palace in September 1989.
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The result put the defending champions on 31 points after 14 games ahead of second-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who host Leicester City on Sunday.
Goals from Takumi Minamino, Sadio Mane and Jordan Henderson, plus two each from Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah, ensured Liverpool would top the table at Christmas in style.
It was Jurgen Klopp’s 127th victory in the Premier League, surpassing Rafael Benitez’s total of 126. And, while Benitez was in charge for 228 league games, Klopp has surpassed his record in only 196.
All seven of Liverpool’s goals were assisted by different players (Mane, Firmino, Robertson, Alexander-Arnold, Salah, Matip and Oxlade-Chamberlain), the first time in Premier League history seven different players have assisted a goal for a team in a match.
Liverpool’s Sadio Mane became only the fourth player in Premier League history to score in seven consecutive appearances against an opponent, after Robin van Persie (eight against Stoke), Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (seven against West Ham) and Romelu Lukaku (seven against West Ham).
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson lost his seventh Premier League game against Liverpool since leaving the club in 2011 – only Mark Hughes against Manchester City (10) has lost more games against a team he’s formerly managed in Premier League history.
