Liverpool crush sorry Southampton to equal Manchester City’s record of 20 consecutive home wins

Bob Paisley on Thursday, Brian Clough on Saturday. History is an ever-present where Liverpool are concerned and, game by game, Jurgen Klopp’s side get closer to making it. Two days after unveiling a statue of their most successful manager, they made it 42 top-flight games unbeaten, emulating the iconoclastic Clough’s Nottingham Forest. Seeing off Southampton brought a 16th straight Premier League victory and send Liverpool 22 points clear. They have 20 straight home league wins, equalling Manchester City's record. Most remarkably, they have 100 points from a possible 102. No one else ever did that, not Paisley or Clough, Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger, Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho.

They have normalised winning and if Southampton’s first-half excellence presented problems, the predictable part was that Liverpool prevailed. They always do. Saints arrived with the second longest unbeaten record in the division, competed well and still conceded four second-half goals, two to a rapacious Mohamed Salah. Their initial resistance and the effervescent efforts of the irrepressible Danny Ings ultimately counted for nothing.

Liverpool could afford to applaud him on his Anfield return. Such are the links between the two clubs that it felt unsurprising a scorer was in the midst of a personal reunion. Even in the absence of the injured Sadio Mane, Liverpool had an old Saint capable of breaking the deadlock.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain began his career with Southampton in League One. Both he and they find themselves in grander surroundings now and his second goal in as many games was well taken. There were two backheels, first from Andrew Robertson and then Roberto Firmino, before Oxlade-Chamberlain drilled a low shot past a motionless Alex McCarthy.

Liverpool’s prowess is in part a result of their ability to win key moments. This was a case in point: seconds earlier, Ings had claimed a penalty at the other end as he stumbled over Fabinho’s challenge. Their trademark swift counter-attacking turned a potential deficit into an immediate advantage. Ruthlessness is a reason for the gargantuan gulf between them and the rest.

Jordan Henderson steered the second into the roof of the net, following a cutback from Firmino. Ridiculously, the Brazilian is still yet to score at Anfield this season, and McCarthy made a save to extend his odd wait. It does not matter, partly because a wonderful catalyst contributed to three that others scored. His centre led to Salah’s second, bundled over the line. His first was a smoother finish, flicked over McCarthy, from Henderson’s perceptive pass. He will be the first Liverpool captain for three decades to lift the title and, with each performance of this influence, the case grows for him to be a contender for the individual awards as well.

Liverpool could have struck sooner. McCarthy denied Oxlade-Chamberlain, Firmino and Virgil van Dijk, who had the nonchalance to try and score with a backheel. At the other end, Alisson saved from Moussa Djenepo, Shane Long and Danny Ings. The Irishman can be a stranger to scoring and he may have denied his strike partner a goal by inadvertently blocking an Ings shot.

Meanwhile, Alisson escaped unpunished for picking up Robertson’s pass on his line; Long was similarly fortunate not to be penalised for grappling with Firmino on the other goal-line. Yet it was not a story of contentiousness, but Liverpool’s relentlessness.