Darwin Nunez scored a goal that moved Liverpool to the top of the standings just in time.

Darwin Nunez opened the scoring

Diogo Jota netted the second

It was his first goal since returning from injury

 

The Uruguayan has not scored since November 1, but he scored early in this game.

They will want even more of those because their top striker, Mo Salah, is travelling to the African Cup of Nations early in the new year.

Diogo Jota is another player who will be crucial during the Egyptian’s absence. He returned from illness with a late second goal.

Because of all of this, Jurgen Klopp continued to maintain his perfect Boxing Day record, winning five out of six games on December 26.

Liverpool knew that a victory would put them ahead of the Gunners and make things difficult for them because Arsenal didn’t play until Thursday.

Nevertheless, Klopp chose to exercise caution because his team had played four games in ten days.

But this has been a good place for him to find goals lately, even though he made five changes from the draw with Arsenal on Saturday.

In their last eight trips to this part of East Lancashire, the Reds have won seven of them.

Klopp said last week that it was not the best place to spend Christmas Day, but things could have been worse.

This season, the Clarets had lost all but one of their nine Premier League games at Turf Moor.

Even though they beat Fulham over the weekend, they still have a long way to go before they have to go back to the Championship.

Still, Vincent Kompany broke a lot of hearts when he played for Liverpool. He wanted to do the same when he played them for the first time as a manager.

His team got off to a good start, but forward Zeki Amdouni made a mistake when he shot wide from a good position.

And just moments later, Nunez showed him how it should be done as he collected a pass from Cody Gakpo on the edge of the box.

The Uruguayan shaped his low shot around James Trafford to score his first goal in 13 appearances for the Reds – his last one coming way back in early November.

Mohamed Salah wants to score his 150th goal for Liverpool before he goes to play for his country.

 

The England Under 21 player made the first of many saves when he flicked over the Egyptian’s first-ever snapshot.

Trent Alexander-Arnold then made a fantastic pass, but Gakpo chopped an attempt high and wide afterward.

After slamming home a loose ball, the Dutch attacker felt he had scored his team’s second goal, but referee Paul Tierney signalled a foul.

The VAR spotted Nunez’s tug on Charlie Taylor, and even though it appeared to be a light one, there was insufficient data to reverse the ruling.

With an inch-perfect pass, Gakpo found Salah, but the forward decided to take his 20-yard attempt early and it rebounded against the top of the crossbar.

Having made seven saves on the evening, Trafford finished the first half with a pair of astute stops to deny Wataru Endo and Salah.

Klopp would have been hating the fact that his team was still in the picture.

Ten minutes into the second half, Elliott appeared to have finally found the net when he headed in a cross from Ryan Gravenberch.

However, the VAR saw that Salah was offside and appeared to be in Trafford’s eyeline, so it was once more ruled out.

The Clarets, astonishingly, had a chance to square the score and were still in it.

Wilson Odobert skillfully navigated into the box, affixing a cross to the rear post, beyond which Johann Berg Gudmundsson proceeded.

There were still opportunities on the opposite end, even if the home team had significantly improved.

Sub Dominik Szoboszlai left Reds supporters biting their nails when he inexplicably failed to convert in a header back across goal from Curtis Jones.

And when Endo handed the ball to Jacob Bruun Larsson, their worst fears nearly came true as the Dane’s shot sailed narrowly wide.

Jota, who had been sidelined for a month due to a hamstring injury, scored the game-winning goal for Liverpool seven minutes after entering from the bench.

After exchanging passes with fellow substitute Luis Diaz, the former Wolves player blasted past Trafford from a close angle.