The Premier League relegation battle took more twists and turns on Saturday afternoon with Everton dropping into the relegation zone, Leicester ending their 10-game winless run, and both Nottingham Forest and Leeds losing.
Forest made it to half-time goalless at Anfield despite Liverpool enjoying more than 80 per cent possession, but two minutes after the break Diogo Jota put the hosts ahead.
Liverpool knew victory would move them into seventh, albeit with Brighton now having two games in hand, but despite the one-way traffic they were pegged back just four minutes later when Neco Williams scored against his former club thanks to a deflected effort off Andy Robertson.
It was a mere four minutes until the next goal, with Jota restoring Liverpool’s lead when chesting the ball down unopposed onto his knee before volleying past Keylor Navas.
A lengthy 12-minute wait for the next goal followed, with Forest once more responding in style when Morgan Gibbs-White’s volley deflected in off Ibrahima Konate.
It was bordering on the absurd at Anfield, with Mohamed Salah then putting Liverpool in front for a third time in the 70th minute, firing home from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross.
Five goals in under 25 breathless minutes, but no more, with Forest remaining in the drop-zone despite their best efforts.
Premier League results
Elsewhere, Leicester moved out of the relegation zone when beating Wolves 2-1, with victory enough to move up to 17th after Everton drew 0-0 at Crystal Palace.
Looking to take a step away from the relegation fight themselves, Wolves held an early lead at the King Power through Matheus Cunha, but Leicester levelled before the break when Jamie Vardy was brought down and Kelechi Iheanacho scored the resulting penalty.
Leicester then took the lead with 15 minutes to go when full-back Timothy Castagne prodded home to round off a well-worked move.
Premier League table
Earlier in the day, Leeds’ slide down the table continued after a fourth defeat in five Premier League matches when losing 2-1 at Fulham.
After a tight first half Fulham took control through second-half goals from Harry Wilson and Andreas Pereira.
Joao Palhinha’s own goal with just over 10 minutes remaining made for a nervy finale at Craven Cottage, but Fulham held on to boost their hopes of a top-half finish.
“We have always had belief and the quality in the team and to keep high up the table,” Wilson said on BT Sport afterwards.
“That relegation battle is intense this year with a number of teams down there and luckily we are not one of them.”
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