LONDON: A devastating spell of four goals in 30 minutes by Liverpool ripped Arsenal apart as the Premier League leaders secured a Liverpool 5-1 win which extended their lead to nine points over Tottenham and Manchester City.

Second-placed Tottenham had already blinked first before this match kicked off, losing 3-1 at home to Wolves, and City, now 10 points adrift, cannot afford to do the same at Southampton on Sunday with Jurgen Klopp’s side arriving on Thursday.

Roberto Firmino took his tally to eight goals in as many games against the Gunners with a hat-trick, with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane also scoring after the visitors had taken the lead through Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

A ninth successive Reds victory made it 31 league matches without defeat at Anfield, their joint-third longest run, and extended their unbeaten start to 20 matches.

Fifth-placed Arsenal are 16 points off the pace but the gulf here was even wider as they collapsed under the first sign of pressure despite having taken an 11th-minute lead through Maitland-Niles.

Liverpool’s answer to going behind at Anfield in the league for the first time in 2018 was emphatic and clinical.

Salah’s blocked shot rebounded to Stephan Lichtsteiner, whose panicked clearance bounced back off team-mate Shkodran Mustafi into the path of Firmino who converted from close range with a trademark ‘no-look’ shot.

The Brazil international’s next 90 seconds later required no such element of luck.

Mane forced Lucas Torreira into losing possession and when Firmino picked up the ball 40 yards out Arsenal’s centre-backs parted and dropped off, giving Firmino every invitation to drive forward and skip past Mustafi and then Sokratis Papastathopoulos before sending Bernd Leno the wrong way.

Midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum’s perfectly-timed tackle denied Ramsey as he burst into the area but it was a rare Arsenal foray forward.

When a Liverpool corner broke down the ball went back to Robertson on the halfway line and his 50-yard crossfield pass was squared first-time by Salah, criminally ignored by Lichtsteiner, for Mane to stab home.

Arsenal were unravelling at an alarming rate and Granit Xhaka was fortunate to escape an immediate second yellow card after kicking the ball away having clattered Robertson.

Still the visitors had not learned their lesson and when Alisson Becker brilliantly picked out Firmino on the right wing with a low, fizzing pass he released Salah into the area and Sokratis brought him down.

Leno got more than a hand on Salah’s added-time penalty but could not stop the Egypt international’s 16th of the season and his 60th in 79 appearances for the club.

It capped a spell reminiscent of the encounter in February 2014 when the Gunners were blown away in the opening 20 minutes of another 5-1 defeat.

Frustrations boiled over with Sokratis and Virgil Van Dijk confronting each other in the tunnel at half-time and while Unai Emery has built his reputation in the Premier League on the changes he has made at the interval, nothing he could have done would have made much difference.

However, if Klopp had hoped to exert more control after the break he was disappointed as the craziness continued with Liverpool continuing to plough forward and Xherdan Shaqiri’s challenge on Sead Kolasinac at the other end risking a penalty.

With an hour gone the Reds boss had seen enough and sent on midfielder Jordan Henderson for Mane but still the chances came, with Fabinho forcing Leno into a good save down to his right.

Kolasinac clattered into the back of Lovren to concede a second penalty which Firmino dispatched for the first Liverpool hat-trick against Arsenal since Peter Crouch’s in 2007.

Manager Klopp said his Liverpool players had only been focused on beating Arsenal after Tottenham’s shock home defeat to Wolves. He said: “With the Tottenham result there are people out there who reacted but in our dressing room there was absolutely no reaction. No smile on the face, nothing, we were absolutely concentrated.

“We can not avoid it because it was on all screens and everybody talks about, but it is not allowed to have any influence on our game.”

Virgil Van Dijk said: “It’s a great time to be a Liverpool player and a fan as well.”

Spurs upset

Tottenham’s Premier League title challenge suffered a big blow as Wolves produced a stunning second half fightback to stun Mauricio Pochettino’s side 3-1 at Wembley.

Harry Kane celebrated his MBE award by belting in the opener in the first half, but Willy Boly headed Wolves level in the 72nd minute before Raul Jimenez slotted them ahead seven minutes from time.

As Spurs desperately searched for an equaliser, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side broke away to struck the deadly blow three minutes before the end to complete a remarkable victory a stunt Tottenham’s growing title charge.

Claudio Ranieri’s Fulham missed a penalty but still managed to pinch all three points with a 1-0 win over Huddersfield thanks to Aleksandar Mitrovic’s stoppage-time winner against Huddersfield.

There was late drama at Craven Cottage as Aboubakar Kamara saw his 82nd-minute penalty saved by Jonas Lossl after many of his team-mates had tried to grab the ball out of the grasp of the Fulham man.

Still there was time for more action as Fulham broke away in the 91st minute and Mitrovic scored the winner to give the hosts a vital three points against their relegation rivals.

There was penalty drama in Leicester’s 1-0 home defeat by Cardiff after James Maddison saw his poor spot-kick saved by Cardiff keeper Neil Etheridge – who has now saved three of his five Premier League penalties faced this season.

Neil Warnock’s men than produced a classic smash-and-grab raid as Victor Camarasa fired in a brilliant winner two minutes into stoppage time to bag all three points.

It was a first Premier League away win of the season for the Bluebirds and a bitter disappointment for Claude Puel who had seen his side beat Chelsea and Manchester City previously.

More late action came at Vicarage Road as Watford managed to save a point in a 1-1 home draw with Newcastle with the equaliser coming just eight minutes from the end of a tough battle.

Salomon Rondon put Rafa Benitez’s Newcastle ahead just before the half-hour mark, but they could not hold out for all three points as Abdoulaye Doucoure popped up to make it 1-1 eight minutes from time.

Jurgen Locadia scored the only goal of the game as Brighton maintained their fine home record at the Amex Stadium with a scrappy 1-0 victory over Everton.

The Toffees had responded from a spanking by Tottenham by handing out a drubbing themselves at Burnley but Marco Silva’s side could not build on that result as they suffered a seventh defeat of the season.

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