Liverpool beat Everton yet again in the Merseyside derby to extend Evertonian's Anfield misery past 20 years.
The win also ensured the reds moved on to a run of 32 unbeaten league games, an all-time club record - a feat not even achieved by any of the previous 18 title winning teams.
And it was Divock Origi, one of five surprise changes for the reds, who set the ball rolling in the 6th minute. He scored two first half goals, with Mane and Shaqiri also chipping in - despite Everton scoring twice from some sloppy derby defending. Gini Wijnaldum added another 90th minute goal for the reds - ensuring the reds scored 5 in a derby for the first time since 1982.
The reds retain their 8 point lead over Leicester, 11 point lead over Man City and collect their 43rd point.
Klopp makes changes
There was an obvious change - with Adrian replacing Alisson who was red-carded for handball last weekend. But the four other changes were more surprising. Lallana came in for Jordan Henderson, with Milner replacing Oxlade-Chamberlain in a changed midfield.
Up front, both Salah and Firmino were placed on the bench. Destroyer of Everton Divock Origi came on but more surprisingly Xherdan Shaqiri was handed his first league start since almost a year ago. Shaqiri had played just 25 minutes football for the reds this season before tonight.
But both decisions worked perfectly in a pulsating first half.
Here’s all the teams in the Premier League who have at least 50% of our points total. pic.twitter.com/lB12nQkITP
— Anfield Online (@anfieldonline) 4 December 2019
Divock Origi started the ball rolling on just 6 minutes when Mane found the Belgian forward, skipped past Jordan Pickford, 1-0.
A lovely crossfield pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold helped Mane to find Shaqiri and the reds had a 2-0 lead within 20 minutes.
As it happened: LFC 5-2 Everton
Michael Keane grabbed one back before Origi added the reds third, this time collecting a lovely ball over the top from Lovren and lifting it over the England number 1.
The reds went 4-1 up through sublime Sadio and then Richarlison gave Everton the faint glimmer of hope just before half time.
But there was no second half reprieve, and Sadio Mane should probably have added more goals to the account before eventually Gini Wijnaldum got the fifth in the final minutes.
This result, and combined with Southampton's win elsewhere, meant that Everton are now into the relegation zone and despite hundreds of millions of pounds of investment, Marco Silva appears to now be living on borrowed time.
The reds can turn their attention now to securing that Christmas number one spot.
- LFC Player StatsUpdated
