Trafford: Mohamed Salah s hat-trick fired Liverpool to the top of the Premier League with an impressive 4-0 win at Bournemouth, while Manchester United also finally hit some free-scoring form with a 4-1 win over Fulham at Old Trafford.
Arsenal extended their unbeaten run to 21 games, but left it late to beat Huddersfield 1-0 thanks to Lucas Torreira s overhead kick seven minutes from time.
Champions Manchester City can reclaim top spot with victory at Chelsea later, but Liverpool took full advantage of kicking off first on the south coast to start a big week in the best possible fashion by moving a point ahead of their title rivals.
Salah had been rested from the start for Wednesday s 3-1 win at Burnley that kept Jurgen Klopp s men on City s coat-tails, and the Egyptian looked to have benefited from a break as he looked more like the player who netted 44 goals in an incredible debut season at Anfield.
The visitors were slightly fortunate to take the lead on 25 minutes when Asmir Begovic fumbled Roberto Firmino s long-range shot Salah s follow-up effort was allowed to stand despite him appearing to be marginally offside.
Salah made the game safe by showing determination to stay on his feet despite being fouled before finding the bottom corner early in the second-half.
Steve Cook s own goal then made it 3-0 before Salah sealed his hat-trick by remaining remarkably cool to dribble past Begovic twice before prodding home.
“What Mo did around his two goals in the second half was just exceptional,” said Klopp. “I don t know at the moment a lot of players who would have scored these two goals.”
