Liverpool were in rampant form at home against Watford as they ran out 6-1 winners, while Manchester United breezed past Swansea 3-1 in Wales.
Sadio Mane scored twice, with the Reds netting six goals via Philippe Coutinho, Emre Can, Roberto Firmino and Georginio Wijnaldum as Liverpool claimed their seventh win in eight Premier League matches, moving a point above Chelsea at the top of the table.
Liverpool took the lead through Mane’s header and Coutinho added a quickfire second with a fine 20-yard strike. Adam Lallana’s cross found Can to head home a third just before half-time, and Liverpool’s superiority continued after the break.
Lallana was the provider again for Firmino who converted the fourth and the Brazilian then picked out Mane for his second and Liverpool’s fifth.
Daryl Janmaat pulled a goal back for Watford but Liverpool had the final say as substitute Wijnaldum netted his first goal for the club in the 91st minute.
In Wales, Paul Pogba broke his United drought when he hammered home a volley from the edge of the area to hand United the lead against an underperforming Swansea side. It got worse for Bob Bradley when Zlatan Ibrahimovic doubled the advantage and in the process wrote himself into the history books for scoring the 25,000th goal in the competition’s history.
Ibrahimovic added a third first-half goal to effectively end the contest. David De Gea was beaten from a free kick, but Manchester United held out to leave Swansea with three very important points.