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Mohamed Salah hopes a 2-0 Merseyside derby win over Everton will be the start of Liverpool’s resurgence after a poor start to the year.
The Reds had only secured one point from four Premier League matches in 2023 before seeing off their neighbours at Anfield on Monday.
Salah opened the scoring with his 18th goal of the season after five games without a goal, Darwin Nunez setting him up on the break 13 seconds after James Tarkowski had struck the post at the other end in the first half.
Cody Gakpo doubled Liverpool’s lead with his first goal for the club early in the second half and there was no way back for the Toffees, who remain in the relegation zone following a first defeat under new boss Sean Dyche.
Jurgen Klopp was also boosted by the return from injury of Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino as second-half substitutes, while Virgil van Dijk was on the bench after recovering from a hamstring problem.
Victory moved the Reds into ninth place and they will only be six points adrift of fourth-placed Newcastle United if they beat Eddie Howe’s side on Saturday.
Leading scorer Salah told Sky Sports: “It’s a huge win for us. We had a perfect week to train and the players were so excited and we couldn’t wait for the game to turn everything around and hopefully it was a start.”
He added: “I know that Darwin is really fast so they had a corner and we played a one-two. I knew that he was going to play the ball in the space, so I was running as fast as I could and scored so that’s the most important thing.”
Salah felt the Reds reaped the rewards for a display in which they showed much more intensity.
He said: “We were a little bit lucky but luck always comes when you work really hard and I’m sure everybody was excited for that game to change everything. Hopefully this is the start.
“[Jordan] Henderson and [James] Milner were speaking and said we have to play our football and we have to enjoy so we managed to play good.
Salah became the 13th player to be involved in 100 Premier League goals at a single stadium, the opener being the 71st time he has struck in the top flight to go with his 29 assists.
The Egypt international achieved that feat in 104 appearances, with only Alan Shearer (74 at Ewood Park) and Thierry Henry (92 at Highbury) doing so in fewer.
