Liverpool, leading the Premier League, continued their relentless pursuit of the title with a 2-0 win over Newcastle United on Wednesday, pushing their advantage to 13 points.
Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister scored to seal the victory.
Under Arne Slot, Liverpool extended their commanding lead over second-placed Arsenal, who have a game in hand but faltered to a 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest, further widening the gap. Newcastle dropped to sixth, now three points behind fourth-placed Manchester City.
Szoboszlai opened the scoring in the 11th minute at a rain-soaked Anfield, tapping in a cutback from Luis Diaz after the Colombian created space on the left. Sandro Tonali of Newcastle failed to track the unmarked Hungarian, allowing him to strike.
The midfielder fired home a close-range shot that sailed through two sets of legs and past goalkeeper Nick Pope, marking the first time he has scored in back-to-back games for Liverpool.
Newcastle were better after the break, but Mac Allister doubled the home side's lead in the 63rd minute when Mohamed Salah cut the ball back for the Argentinian, who punished the visitors' sloppy defending with a blistering shot into the top corner.
"It is the desire, the desire to win trophies," Mac Allister told TNT Sports about his team's consistency. "We know that this season we have maybe the opportunity to win some, so we are really happy working really hard, and hopefully we can keep on going."
The Anfield faithful celebrated Mac Allister's goal by breaking into a chorus of "We're going to win the league," while the television camera panned to Slot, who was forced to sit in the stands due to a touchline ban, jubilantly pumping his fists.
The manager served the first of a two-game suspension on Wednesday for a red card he was shown after the final whistle of the chaotic recent Merseyside derby. His assistant, John Heitinga, was in the dugout in Slot's place.
Eddie Howe's team suffered a huge blow before the game with Alexander Isak, who has scored 21 goals this season across all competitions, ruled out with a groin injury.
Callum Wilson was the Magpies' biggest threat and spurned a terrific chance in the first half when he got behind Liverpool's defense. He took a couple of touches before chipping the ball just wide, with his finishing rusty after playing just seven league games this season due to injuries.
Liverpool, who had 12 shots to Newcastle's three, had several late chances to add to their lead, with talisman Salah at the forefront.
He sprinted down the right before sending a beautiful pass to the far post for Diaz, who stretched but poked the ball just wide.
Pope dived to push a Salah shot wide toward the end of normal time.
Ibrahima Konate briefly celebrated when he outjumped Pope to head the ball home, but the Liverpool defender was adjudged to have fouled the keeper.
Cody Gakpo had a chance with a dramatic overhead kick in added time but sent the ball just wide of the net.
The Kop were in full voice as Liverpool cruised to their 32nd victory in 43 games across all competitions, the most victories in Europe's top five leagues, and two wins better than Real Madrid.
Howe said it was not a "bad performance in any way" from his side.
"But with the two goals, we could have done much better," he added. "Both were passes into our box that we did not get tight enough to their midfielders, which is frustrating, really."
