Burnley 0-2 Liverpool: Player ratings as Nunez ends goal drought in hard-fought victory

Liverpool moved top of the Premier League with a tricky 2-0 victory over Burnley on Tuesday evening.

Darwin Nunez struck from range in an overwhelmingly dominant first half which also saw a Cody Gakpo goal ruled out for a foul. Harvey Elliott later saw an effort chalked off for offside after the break.

Burnley threatened to get back into the game in the second half but Diogo Jota's 50th Liverpool goal late on ultimately put the hosts to bed.

Burnley made a red-hot start but the first real opportunity of the game fell to Liverpool. Harvey Elliott's strike from range forced James Trafford into a smart save inside four minutes, before Mohamed Salah was caught offside from the rebound.

Liverpool wouldn't have to wait long for their opener. With six minutes on the clock, Nunez pulled the trigger from outside the box and carefully guided the ball into Trafford's bottom corner.

The Burnley stopper pulled out an excellent save to deny an immediate second from Salah, but Liverpool kept coming and spurned a handful of chances to double their advantage inside the opening stages as Burnley's ambitious style of play proved to be the home side's downfall.

Gakpo fired home in the 28th minute but his celebrations were quickly halted when the referee saw Nunez fouling Charlie Taylor in the build-up — a decision which VAR eventually approved.

Two further errors from Burnley allowed Salah to crash against the crossbar shortly after the half-hour mark and there was plenty more work for Trafford before the break — Liverpool's eight shots on target was the most they have registered in a first half this season — but somehow, the score remained 1-0.

Liverpool had the ball in the back of the Burnley net nine minutes after the restart after Elliott