Liverpool's front three are better than ever – not even PSG’s trio of Galacticos can match them
For Liverpool the goals don’t stop coming. Their 5-0 thrashing of a woeful Watford side that utterly failed to enjoy their standard new manager bounce represented the eighth time this season they have scored three or more goals. Incredibly, it means they have become the first English top flight side in history (yes, including the years before the Premier League was invented) to score three or more goals in seven consecutive away games.
And the thing is the overwhelming majority of their tsunami of goals, including all five here, have come from their front three. The statistics Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Saido Mane are compiling as they go about their business of steam rolling opponents are astonishing.
Take Mane. When he supplied the perfect finish to Salah’s sumptuous curled pass, he notched up his 100th Premier League goal. He is the third African player to reach a century in England, after Didier Drogba and Salah. He also became only the third player ever - after Emile Heskey and Les Ferdinand - to reach that mark without the assistance of any penalties.
And when Firmino completed the scoring with the last kick of the game, he became the only Brazilian ever to score more than one hat-trick in the English game. It was, more to the point, a trio of goals that will have brought back memories for Liverpool fans of the one Dirk Kuyt completed against Manchester United in 2011. Because like Kuyt, Firmino none of his strikes were conducted from more than five yards out: this was a hat-trick of tap-ins.
Yet there was nothing simplistic in his poacher’s collection: each was the perfect conclusion to a magnificent team move, involving most of his colleagues. As Watford’s defence was pulled out of position by the speed and adventure of Liverpool’s passing, Firmino found himself gifted so much space to complete the moves he was in danger of contracting agoraphobia. No wonder he grinned like it was Christmas Day when he shoved the match ball up his shirt: rarely can he have enjoyed such freedom in the box.
As for Salah, his beautifully choreographed dance through the entirety of the Watford back line was no mere self-indulgence: it was concluded with a perfect strike into the one part of the net Ben Foster could not reach. It marked the eighth game in succession that he has scored, and put him level with Drogba as the most productive African to play in England, on 104 goals.
Though at the rate he is scoring it would be unwise to bet against him overtaking the former Chelsea great by this time next week. After the game, his manager Jurgen Klopp, barely able to suppress his grin, reckoned Salah the finest player in the world right now. It would be hard to argue with his statistics.
The alarming news for the rest of the Premier League is that, after fitness and form temporarily deserted them for parts of last season, the three are coming back into prominence at the very same time and with ominous certainty. In fact, it is plausible to suggest they are currently better than ever.
Indeed, there can be no more productive front three than Liverpool’s around. Chelsea notch up wins by margins of one or two rather than Liverpool's four or five, Manchester City prefer not to employ forwards, while Manchester United have half a dozen of them who appear not yet to have been introduced.
Even PSG’s expensively acquired trio of Galacticos - Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe - cannot match the Liverpool threesome’s endless delivery.
Next up in the league for Liverpool is a trip to Old Trafford on Sunday. Manchester United fans must view the thought of their team facing up to that front three with a sense of alarm.
Though frankly such is United’s lack of cohesion and direction, Klopp could probably field his understudy forwards Diogo Jota, Takumi Minamino and Divock Origi and still maintain his side’s avalanche of goals.
