Liverpool setting new standards

LONDON (AP):

Liverpool are setting standards that have never been seen in English football.

With a 4-0 win over Southampton yesterday, Liverpool moved a scarcely believable 22 points clear in the English Premier League (EPL) – the biggest advantage any leader has had at the end of a day in English top-flight history.

Winning the league, for the first time in 30 agonising years, is surely a given. Going the season unbeaten like Arsenal’s so-called “Invincibles” did in 2003-04 is looking increasingly likely, too, with 13 games remaining.

A debate that might not be too far away is if Jurgen Klopp’s team is the best to ever grace football’s birthplace. It has won 100 points from a possible 102 going back to March last year.

One thing at a time, though, for Klopp, whose side needs only one more win to secure Champions League qualification for next season. Another remarkable statistic given it is only early February.

A maximum of seven more wins is required to clinch the league title in what is shaping up to be record time.

Mohamed Salah might also have his eyes on being the Premier League top scorer for the third straight season after netting two late goals on the counterattack against Southampton to move to 14, three behind Leicester’s Jamie Vardy. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jordan Henderson also scored.

It was also a ninth clean sheet in the last 10 league games for Liverpool, which has conceded only 15 goals – eight fewer than the next most obdurate team, Sheffield United.

Other results: Leicester 2 Chelsea 2; Manchester United 0 Wolverhampton 0; Newcastle 0 Norwich 0; Bournemouth 2 Aston Villa 1; Crystal Palace 0 Sheffield United 1; Watford 2 Everton 3; West Ham 3 Brighton 3.