REPORT: Salah brace leads Liverpool past Watford

Liverpool hosted Watford on Saturday lunchtime with the result expected to go one way, and the outcome was no surprise as Mohamed Salah struck twice to see Jurgen Klopp’s troops come away with all the three points with a hard-fought 2-0 victory.

Read: Liverpool vs Watford: Team News, Match Facts and Probable Lineups

The two sides, who are occupying the extremities of the Premier League, with the Reds at the summit and the Hornets languishing at the base, went head-to-head at Anfield with Liverpool on their longest unbeaten run in their history.

First half

Watford, under the tutelage of Nigel Pearson after sacking Qique Sanches Flores, didn’t make it easy for the hosts in the early exchanges, equallly creating a handful of chances.

However, with 38 minutes on the clock, Egyptian talisman Salah ensured that normal service was resumed stepping up with a superb effort to give the Reds the deserved lead.

After the visitors gave the ball away in the air, Liverpool went on the counter-attack and the rest is history as they would say.

Salah did the unthinkable by producing an exquisite flick on the inside before finished it off with a superb curling effort into the far corner.

Check out Salah’s goal:

Second half

The second period to was no different to the first stanza with Klopp’s men taking full control of the game from the whistle start.

But they had to wait till late on in the match to confirm their deserved victory after the combination of Sadio Mane and Divock Origi led to the Egyptian king round off the scoring for his second of the afternoon.

In front of the Hornets defence, Mane cut the ball back for Origi, but the Belgian could only fluff his shot but luckily for Salah he was able to flick the ball between his legs and nutmeg Christian Kabasele on the line.

Incredibly, the Reds also kept their consecutive Premier League clean sheet for the first time since March.

Liverpool will now go into the the festive period unbeaten at the top, 11 points clear off second-placed Leicester City.

Starting line-ups:

Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Milner, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Shaqiri, Salah, Mane, Firmino.

Substitutes: Adrian, Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lallana, Robertson, Origi, Williams.

Watford: Foster, Femenia, Cathcart, Kabasele, Mariappa, Capoue, Doucoure, Deulofeu, Hughes, Sarr, Deeney.

Substitutes: Gomes, Dawson, Chalobah, Gray, Quina, Success, Foulquier.