Record-breaker Mohamed Salah seals win for resurgent Liverpool

Mohamed Salah's goal in a 1-0 win over Brentford propelled Liverpool closer to the Premier League top four and deflected attention away from the booing of the national anthem at Anfield on coronation day.

The pre-match playing of the anthem, but with the airing of the first bars of You’ll Never Walk Alone the atmosphere flipped and Salah kicked off the celebrations with yet another milestone goal in a career of Liverpool landmarks.

While his 13th-minute finish was far from his classiest, requiring two touches from four yards to bundle home Virgil van Dijk’s header, it was significant for being his 100th at Anfield. He became the first Liverpool player to score in nine successive home matches in all competitions.

The statistics continue to rack up as it was the third successive season – and fourth in six – he had reached 30 in a campaign and it took him level with Steven Gerrard in fifth place on the club’s all-time goalscoring list with 186.

A sixth successive win also moved Liverpool within a point of fourth-placed Manchester United and three away from Newcastle in third, teams who play the first of their two matches in hand on Sunday against West Ham and Arsenal respectively.

Manager Jurgen Klopp restored Cody Gakpo to the team as one of four forwards named but with captain Jordan Henderson not fully fit he was asked to perform a role on the right of midfield, although what was more unusual was seeing Van Dijk booked as early as the fifth minute for going through the back of Frank Onyeka.

Much has been made of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s passing from a new hybrid midfield position but it was Fabinho, in his more traditional holding role, who set up the opener, with his chip over a crowded penalty area picking out Van Dijk to