What Liverpool supporters did when seeing Paul Tierney leaving Turf Moor sums up feeling as booming title statement sent

Even for those whose glass of festive cheer is half empty, this was as close to an ideal Boxing Night as it could get for Liverpool.

There will be some who might bemoan a lack of cutting edge in the yawning gap between the goals at either end of the game from Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota, but there can't be anyone who will find real fault with this performance against Burnley when they survey the Premier League table on December 27.

For a campaign that is throwing up a number of talking points, injury issues and other problems, that it is the Reds' name in first place at the midway stage is hugely encouraging for a team who are a few steps ahead of their anticipated development given the flux it found itself in back in the summer when so much changed across the playing and backroom staff.

Liverpool's next five PL matches compared to Arsenal, Aston Villa and Man City

Liverpool player ratings as Wataru Endo, Diogo Jota and two others excellent

A 2-0 win here takes Liverpool above Arsenal and means fans can sit back with intrigue now as Manchester City return to Premier League action with a tricky visit to an in-form Everton on Wednesday before the Gunners entertain West Ham 24 hours later. Those fixtures have just got a bit tougher for the Reds' title rivals.

The positives were plentiful. The sight of Nunez ending his scoreless run was perhaps just edged out by his replacement Jota slamming home the vital second after a month out with a hamstring complaint. How he has been missed.

It’s ideal timing for both players too given Mohamed Salah will be AFCON-bound with Egypt after the visit from Newcastle on New Year’s Day. Both will need to shoulder the burden in his absence if this title tilt is to remain on course. Much