Liverpool’s recent barren run finally came to a halt after a comfortable victory at Elland Road.
Renowned for its nasty atmosphere where teams tend to struggle when they play there, Liverpool did at first, but then they grew into the game and punished Leeds United with two goals towards the end of the first half.
Firstly, a very contentious goal was netted, as Junior Firpo’s attempted clearance fortuitously ricocheted of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s arm, and the Liverpool man drove forward and found Cody Gakpo, who had the easiest of finishes to put Liverpool in-front.
It was two minutes late and the endeavour of Diogo Jota to win the ball back earned another goal. The Portuguese sent away Mohamed Salah who rippled the net after a composed finish.
The second half started in dramatic fashion, with Leeds reducing the arrears after pouncing on an uncharacteristic mistake by Ibrahima Konate, with Crysencio Summerville lobbing Alisson.
Liverpool were soon two goals to the good again as Jota's brilliant finish earned him his first goal in Red since April last year.
Jurgen Klopp’s men were fully in their stride and were looking to further their cushion, and after a fourth being chalked off, Liverpool finally found it again through Salah finishing a deadly counter attack.
A fifth was added and it was Jota’s second after he perfectly found the corner, leaving Illan Meslier stranded with a stunning low strike from the edge of the penalty box.
The hosts' misery was compiled even more when Darwin Nunez marked his cameo from the bench with a calm finish to give Liverpool a sixth.
Here is the player ratings from a complete white-wash at Elland Road for Liverpool.
Leeds United
Illan Meslier - 4
People could sympathise with Meslier after some shocking defending by the men in front of him, but some of the goals could have been avoided. An unwanted stat for him to endure is that he has conceded 10 of his last shots faced on target.
Rasmus Kristensen - 2
Like most at the back for Leeds, it was an absolute disaster, with him unable to stop anything coming his way.
Robin Koch - 4
Looked a little more sharper and better than the rest, but nevertheless still an incompetent display from the Leeds skipper.
Pascal Struijk - 2
Similar to Kristensen, sloppy all night. Didn’t complement well with Koch and found it hard to deal with.
Julian Firpo - 2
Mohamed Salah tore the defender to shreads, and he found it hard to clear his lines and his passes into midfield were sloppy. Although, he was rather unfortunate to give a goal away as his clearance rebounded off Alexander-Arnold’s arm. However, he was rather fortunate to escape a booking in the second-half.
Marco Roca - 4
Slow to react to anything, lacked any urgency and tempo and was overran by Curtis Jones and Jordan Henderson.
Weston McKennie - 2
Arguably the worst on the field of play for Leeds, McKennie lacked any tempo and gave the ball away far too much.
Jack Harrison - 6
Showed some signs of energy, had the ability to press from the front and move forward, but anything he tried to create didn’t work out.
Brendan Aaronson - 6
Aaronson was another who had a lease of energy for Leeds, moving forward and causing problems, albeit minimal. He was also unlucky not to net from his fizzing effort from afar.
Luis Sinisterra - 7
Similar to Aaronson, with the only difference being he netted thanks to Konate’s mistake. He was criminally let down by his team mates.
Rodrigo - 5
Apart from a header early on that was saved by Alisson, he was not really in the game much.
Crysensio Summerville - 5
Unable to recapture his unbelievable moment at Anfield earlier in the season, he weren’t heavily in the game.
Georginio Rutter - 5
Similar to Summerville, he didn’t really have enough time or any help from his teammates to do anything of note in the game.
Adam Forshaw - N/A
Willy Gnonto - N/A
Liverpool
Alisson Becker - 7
Left with nothing much to do except dealing with an early Rodrigo header, always a safe pair of hands.
Pushed into midfield when possible and he looked ready made for the position, with him also doing a job defensively too. Two assists, one interception, 11 ball recoveries, a Man of the Match display.
Ibrahima Konate - 7
Debateably Liverpool’s best player up until he gifted Leeds with their only goal. Apart from that blunder, the Frenchmen continued his fine form with another astute display.
Virgil van Dijk - 6
The Dutchman looked relatively shaky during the game, mostly solid but on a few occasions nearly giving away the balls once heavily pressed.
Andy Robertson - 7
Heavily involved in the game, with a handball decision falling in his favour and he done well to defend many balls from Leeds’ right flank, as well as attacking with venom.
Fabinho - 6
Looked very panicked and rushed a lot, other than that, it was a solid showing by a man who’s been under much scrutiny this season.
Jordan Henderson - 7
Found himself on the right sometimes covering for Alexander-Arnold when he came into the midfield, and he was an astute figure in the middle of the park for Liverpool.
Curtis Jones - 8
Backed up the faith Jurgen Klopp had in him by putting in a solid display for the Reds. Never really put a foot wrong.
Mohamed Salah - 8
A fantastic finish for the second and always a threat up against Firpo. He was unlucky not to have his second and Liverpool’s fourth after Van Dijk was caught marginally offside, but he eventually earned the same feat minutes later. A competent display and always a danger to go up against.
Cody Gakpo - 7
Calm in possession, always willing to track back and win the ball back and overall, his showing was solid and to top it off, he netted the opener.
Diogo Jota - 8
It had been a rather shaky display by the Portuguese up until he won the ball back high up the pitch and slotted Salah through for his first goal before slotting home himself right at the start of the second half and then a stunner from the edge of the area securing a fifth.
Luis Diaz - N/A
Was nice to see the Colombian back in action after his long time on the sideline.
Darwin Nunez - 7
Marked his cameo by handing Liverpool their sixth, also giving him his ninth goal of the Premier League campaign.
James Milner - N/A
Roberto Firmino - N/A
Thiago - N/A
