Jordan Henderson was the star again for Liverpool as they brushed past a meek Burnley side at Anfield in a 2-0 win on Wednesday evening to maintain their fantastic form.
Repeating his fine goalscoring heroics, Liverpool captain Henderson sent a superb swerving half-volley from 20-yards inside Tom Heaton's near-post on the half-hour mark, before providing the excellent assist to allow Daniel Sturridge to send a header in to double the lead after the break as the Reds deservedly prolonged their unbeaten run in the league to 12 games.
Brendan Rodgers made just one change from the side that beat the reigning champions on Sunday as Lazar Markovic was replaced by Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling slotted into the right-wing back role, and as a result, the Reds started brightly and could have led within less than a minute when Sturridge had Heaton sprawling down to his left.
After linking up with Adam Lallana and Sterling down the left side inside 30 seconds, the English international found the ball at his feet from 12-yards out, made space for himslef and released a powerful left-footed shot towards the bottom corner, but Heaton did well to palm it wide.
The home side continued to enjoy the better of the early stages, but Henderson wasted a good opportunity after glancing Philippe Coutinho's inswinging corner over the crossbar at the Kop end.
A stubborn Sean Dyche side meant that Liverpool struggled to create any real opportunities, despite dominating possession.
After Kris Boyd brought down the lively Coutinho down the left flank. Henderson again had a fine opportunity, when the Brazilian playmaker's delivery was punched out by Heaton. Opting to hit it first-time, Henderson couldn't keep his effort down as he watched his volley soar into the crowd.
Lacking in intensity, the game played into the hands of the away side who were able to contain the Reds and occasionally break away and cause danger with plenty of pressing and energy further up the pitch.
But the Clarets - who had not scored at Anfield in six of their previous seven visits - did not have enough bite in the final third, with Ashley Barnes' 20-yard shot well blocked by Emre Can, whilst Ben Mee's far-post header could not trouble Simon Mignolet in the Liverpool goal. Midfielder Michael Kightly too, could only watch his always-rising effort fly over.
With the home support growing anxious, the Reds steadily began to settle the nerves. After Lallana's neat outside-of-the-foot through ball couldn't find Sturridge, Henderson tested Heaton once again from outside-of-the-box.
Dropping to him from around 20-yards from goal, the stand-in skipper sent an exquisite strike towards the bottom corner, which the Burnley goalkeeper again got down well to.
The Reds continued to come close, but not close enough. Emre Can's low strike took a deflection and almost fell into the path of Sturridge after Tom Keane opted for a risky header back to his keeper, but the 25-year-old just couldn't get a strong connection to lift his close-range chip over Heaton.
Despite the score remaining goalless, Liverpool were by far the side on top. Finally on the half-hour mark, the Reds took advantage as Henderson, a bright spark in the home side's midfield all game, scored for the second successive game.
After Coutinho magically dribbled through a number of opponents after cutting in from the inside, the ball wasn't properly cleared and dropped kindly for Henderson from 25-yards. Running onto the effort, the skipper sent a sensational, Steven Gerrard-esque, half-volley that evaded Heaton's fingertips to find the bottom right corner.
Only minutes later, the once-again sensational Coutinho almost doubled the home side's lead. In almost like-for-like fashion as his goal against Manchester City, the Brazilian cut onto his right foot from the left and bent a curling shot towards goal, but rather than finding the bottom corner, Coutinho's effort only flew narrowly wide of the right-post.
With the crowd having been picked up, the Reds began to find their groove, but there were penalty shouts up the other end in the 37th minute. Martin Skrtel and Ashley Barnes clashed, with the English striker going down inside the area, but referee Lee Mason waved away the claims.
The game soon began to open up and Sturridge, could and should, have made it 2-0 shortly before the break. After latching on to Coutinho's excellent through ball, Sturridge raced into a one-on-one with Heaton but could not place his effort past the Burnley goalkeeper, shooting straight at him.
Full in confidence from scoring three successive goals from outside-of-the-box in the Premier League for the first time since 2007, Liverpool continued to pepper Heaton's goal from range - but Joe Allen's effort was a yard over Heaton's bar.
Yet it was Burnley who almost unexpectedly levelled before half-time, when Mignolet was forced into a strong stop after Kieran Trippier's long free-kick delivery. Sending it deep, Trippier's cross found Barnes inside the area and the 25-year-old's header back across goal looked set to ripple the top corner, but the Belgian rose acrobatically to ensure the Reds retained the advantage at the interval.
The Reds carried their form into the second and within only six minutes, were 2-0 in front. After a sublime cross found a back-tracking Sturridge, the striker did extremely well to guide his header between Heaton and the post from six yards.
Burnley far from gave up, spirited by the fact that they came from two goals down to draw at Manchester City earlier in the campaign, and they began to enjoy a good spell of possession as the game approached the hour mark.
Danny Ings, who was quiet for much of the game, did well to beat Henderson with the ball at the byline, but his effort was well blocked by Slovakian centre-back Skrtel.
Yet Dyche's side maintained a strong revival, as Barnes tried an effort from range, sending a dipping volley towards Mignolet's goal, but the shot ultimately dipped wide of the Belgian's post.
Opportunities were less and less common, as the Reds looked to see out another clean sheet and vitally, the three points - but they did have a few rare chances to extend their lead.
After doing well on the right to gain a yard of space against Mee and racing to the byline, Sterling sent a lofted ball in towards Sturridge inside the six-yard box but after failing to get any connection, the ball fell for Alberto Moreno who could only lash an effort over the bar as he slipped whilst taking the shot.
For all of Burnley's fight, Liverpool maintained their control of the game throughout - but could not find a way to break through the Clarets' back-line a third time. Lallana's ambitious curling effort from range didn't really trouble Heaton, before the Englishman saw another promising effort from 2-=yards smartly blocked by Keane.
With few chances in the final minutes, Sterling was unlucky not to notch a goal after breaking into space inside the area, but Burnley goalkeeper Heaton was again there to deny him and the Reds were forced to settle for a two-goal margin.
Burnley, who sit three points away from safety in 19th after the result, were poor as they struggled to create any real opportunities at Anfield, but the Reds were fully deserving of their seventh Premier League victory in the last eight - controlling the game from start to finish and forcing Sean Dyche's goalkeeper Tom Heaton into a number of decent saves. The Reds consequently move up to fifth, but with other results around them not going in their favour, they remain two points off 4th-placed Manchester United and three off of Arsenal in 3rd.
| Liverpool (2) | Burnley (0) | ||
 |  |  |  |
| Mignolet | 6 | Heaton | 7 |
| Can | 7 | Trippier | 6 |
| Skrtel | 7 | Keane | 5 |
| Lovren | 6 | Shackell | 6 |
| Sterling | 6 | Mee | 5 |
| Henderson | 8 | Kightly | 6 |
| Allen | 6 | Jones | 6 |
| Moreno | 6 | Arfield | 6 |
| Lallana | 6 | Boyd | 5 |
| Coutinho | 7 | Barnes | 6 |
| Sturridge | 7 | Ings | 5 |
| Substitutes: | |||
| Toure | 5 | Wallace | 5 |
| Johnson | - | Vokes | 5 |
| Lambert | - | Jutkiewicz | - |