Liverpool romped to a convincing 5-0 win over Watford at Vicarage Road with Roberto Firmino netting a hat-trick as the Hornets produced a hapless showing in Claudio Ranieri’s first game in charge.
Sadio Mane opened the scoring with his 100th Premier League goal, calmly finishing first-time into the bottom corner from Mohamed Salah’s lovely ball in behind.
Firmino profited from poor Watford defending to find the net either side of half-time, tapping in from James Milner’s pass after the home defence had been carved open, before pouncing on a loose ball from a badly defended cross.
Salah then scored a sensational solo goal, making a mockery of three defenders’ attempts to win the ball from him before curling emphatically into the far corner, while Firmino struck again in stoppage-time to compound the hosts’ misery.
Watford had survived a scare even before Liverpool led after nine minutes when Salah spun his man on the right and played a superb ball in behind with the outside of his left foot for Mane, who slotted coolly into the bottom-left corner.
Salah nearly got on the scoresheet himself soon after, taking over from Andy Robertson on the edge of the box and curling towards the top-left corner, but Ben Foster made a fantastic save to deny him.
Instead it was Firmino who doubled the Reds’ advantage after 37 minutes, finding an empty net from close range following Milner’s cut-back, and Naby Keita might have hit a third before the break as his shot was deflected onto the crossbar.
Firmino scored again seven minutes into the second half after Foster was unable to hold Craig Cathcart’s misdirected interception, allowing the Liverpool striker to pounce on the loose ball for an easy tap-in.
Salah stole the show in the 54th minute with an incredible individual goal, turning three Watford defenders inside-out before lashing a sweet strike into the bottom-left corner from a tight angle, Firmino getting the assist.
Not to be outdone, however, Firmino popped up in the first minute of added time to turn substitute Neco Williams’ low cross in to complete his hat-trick and round off the scoring.
