After Burnley started brightly, with forward Chris Wood forcing an early save out of Adrian, Liverpool got ahead in the 33rd minute, albeit in fortunate fashion.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s attempted cross from deep on the right hit the back of Wood and looped over Burnley keeper Nick Pope into the far corner.

If Sean Dyche’s side felt luck was against them with the opener they had only themselves to blame when they handed Liverpool a second goal four minutes later.

Burnley skipper Ben Mee passed straight to Roberto Firmino, who burst forward and then slipped the ball left to Sadio Mane, who finished with precision into the bottom corner.

Firmino wrapped up the win nine minutes from the end, driving past Pope after good work from Mohamed Salah, who skipped past two challenges before setting up the Brazilian.

The club’s previous record run was set between April and October 1990, when the team was managed by Kenny Dalglish.

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Salah was in an offside position when Roberto Firmino hit a 30-yard shot that home keeper Asmir Begovic carelessly pushed out in the direction of the Egypt forward.

Salah finished clinically and his eighth top-flight goal of the season was allowed to stand by the officials to break the deadlock in a game the visitors dominated from the start.

There was nothing fortuitous about the Liverpool forward’s second though, a composed finish after driving at the Bournemouth defence, while Steve Cook back-heeled the ball into his own net while attempting a clearance to make it 3-0.

Salah then completed his hat-trick after rounding Begovic, cutting back to beat the Bournemouth keeper for a second time and poking the ball past Nathan Ake on the line.

Having taken 45 points from the last 51 on offer, Liverpool are now unbeaten in 17 league games in a run stretching back to last season.

After a fifth straight league win, Klopp’s side are one point clear of City, but the reigning champions will return to the summit if they avoid defeat at fourth-placed Chelsea later on Saturday (17:30 GMT).

The wins keep on coming for Liverpool – and the goals are flowing once again for Salah.

Having successfully negotiated a bruising night at Burnley on Wednesday, Klopp’s side started a huge week by ruthlessly dismantling Bournemouth to keep the pressure on Pep Guardiola’s team.

Salah goes into Tuesday’s Champions League must-win group game with Napoli having marked his return to the starting line-up by emphatically ending a three-match personal run without a goal.

Bournemouth have every right to feel disgruntled about the former Roma player’s first, with television replays clearly showing Salah was offside when Firmino struck the shot that Begovic spilled into his path.

Yet the hosts can have few complaints about his second or third.

Despite Cook’s attempt to bring him down, Salah stayed on his feet to drive at Bournemouth’s defence before producing a neat finish into the corner via a slight deflection off Ake.

Cook’s troubled game continued when the Bournemouth defender inadvertently diverted the ball into his own net following a cross by Andy Robertson, before Salah completed the rout.

After shrugging Cook off the ball following substitute Adam Lallana’s long punt forward, Salah dribbled into the box before tormenting Begovic and slotting home.

While the headlines belong to Salah, Liverpool overcame the absences of injured defensive trio Joe Gomez, Dejan Lovren and Nathaniel Clyne by securing a 10th Premier League clean sheet of the season before next Sunday’s visit of Manchester United to Anfield.

Bournemouth’s started the weekend seventh in the table – level on points with sixth-placed Everton – and with plaudits ringing in manager Eddie Howe’s ears.

Their climb from League Two to the fringes of European qualification in 10 seasons is nothing short of phenomenal, but the Cherries were second best all over the pitch against Liverpool.

This scenario is becoming a familiar story for the Dorset club against the league’s leading sides.

Howe’s team are regularly praised for being a side that produces attractive, progressive football – but their record against the top-six teams is extremely poor.

Since the start of 2017-18, Bournemouth have lost 15 times in 17 games against Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United.

The bad news is they still have to face Chelsea, Tottenham and United – all away – in the league this month.

They were not helped by the absence of leading scorer Callum Wilson because of a hamstring injury, but the England striker would not have helped their defence – now without a clean sheet in seven league and cup games – contain Liverpool.

This was a momentous day for Liverpool’s James Milner, who became only the 13th player to reach the landmark of 500 Premier League appearances.

With Jordan Henderson on the bench, Milner captained Liverpool to victory in a game in which his statistics were again impressive.

Having covered 12.57 kilometres at Burnley in midweek – more than any other player on the pitch – the 32-year-old clocked up another 11.73 filling in at right-back against Bournemouth.

There was one nervous moment when his misplaced first-half pass required Alisson to dash out of his goal to head clear – and in doing take out Josh King.

But Milner was otherwise a reassuring presence in the back four, demonstrating his value to Klopp with his ability to move from midfield to full-back and give youngster Trent Alexander-Arnold a rest with Gomez injured.

In fact the Yorkshireman found himself in the Bournemouth half as often as he was his own as he played a significant part in the 238th top-flight win of his career.

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Liverpool, who last reached the final in 2007, repeatedly breached the visitors’ naively high defensive line and scored five times in the opening 68 minutes at a raucous Anfield.

Salah, who has now scored 43 goals since his summer move from Roma, scored twice and assisted two other goals.

He curled his first into the top corner from the edge of the box – then clipped the ball over Alisson for a second.

Salah then ran down the right and squared for Sadio Mane to make it 3-0 – before doing the same to set up Roberto Firmino.

Liverpool then became only the second team to score five goals in a Champions League semi-final match when Firmino headed in James Milner’s corner.

With his side leading 5-0, Reds boss Jurgen Klopp took off Salah – and Roma gave themselves a chance for next week’s return leg at the Stadio Olimpico.

First Edin Dzeko lashed home from Radja Nainggolan’s pass, then Diego Perotti put a penalty into the top right corner after Milner handled Nainggolan’s shot.

Roma need only look to the last round for inspiration, when they lost the first leg in Barcelona 4-1 before winning 3-0 in Roma.

A repeat of the latter scoreline this time would take them into the final against Bayern Munich or Real Madrid.

Klopp revealed after the game that England midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who left the pitch on a stretcher after injuring himself while making a tackle, has suffered “probably a really bad injury”.

SWhen Salah moved to Anfield last summer for £34m after two good seasons for Roma, nobody could have predicted what would follow.

The Egypt winger has scored 43 goals in 48 games for Liverpool – an average of one every 87 minutes – and is the Premier League’s top scorer.

He has netted in his past seven games – including four goals against Watford, and one in both legs of the Champions League quarter-final win over Manchester City.

But it has all been leading up to this night at Anfield.

Roma had no answer to their former player, who opened the scoring off the underside of the bar after Milner won the ball from Dzeko, and Mane and Firmino combined to find Salah.

His second came when he found Firmino from the halfway line, then ran forward to latch onto his team-mate’s pass before lifting the ball over Roma keeper Alisson, considered one of the best in the world. He did not celebrate either goal.

Salah then took advantage of Roma’s high defending to get in down the right, perhaps from an offside position, before finding the previously wasteful Mane as Liverpool started to cruise.

He then rolled a ball across the six-yard box for Firmino to score.

With the tie seemingly won, Salah came off to a standing ovation when he was replaced by Danny Ings with 15 minutes left.

But he might need to score again in Rome after the visitors’ late rally.

The Reds, who have won the European Cup or Champions League five times, were beaten by AC Milan in their last final appearance.

With no side having gone through from 5-0 down at the end of the first leg in any European competition, Klopp will be annoyed they have given Roma that little bit of hope.

For an hour they were sublime, and could have scored eight or nine goals.

After a good opening 20 minutes for Roma, Liverpool started to pick them apart and had already missed several good chances before Salah’s opener.

Mane blazed two great chances over the bar from Firmino passes – first when he ran from near the halfway line before shooting over, then from a cut-back.

The Senegal striker then had a goal rightly ruled out for offside from Andrew Robertson’s cross. Between Salah’s goals, Dejan Lovren missed a glorious chance when he headed against the crossbar from close range.

But once they refined their finishing, Roma looked terrified every time the hosts got the ball.

And even after the visitors’ late double, Liverpool will fancy their chances of being in Kiev for the final on Saturday, 26 May.

Roma looked down and out after 80 minutes – with the only real question appearing to be whether they would concede again.

They had the game’s first chance, in a bright start, when Aleksandar Kolarov’s 20-yard drive was weakly touched onto the bar by Loris Karius, who was lucky not to turn it into his own net.

They looked totally out of ideas and hope towards the end, when suddenly Nainggolan’s ball over the top found Dzeko, who smashed the ball home. It looked like it would just be a consolation, but suddenly it was a new match.

Nainggolan, who had been fairly quiet, had a shot from outside the box which Milner handled before Perotti, a substitute, stroked the ball into the opposite corner of the same goal Salah had found to start the mayhem.

Liverpool were hanging on at this stage and Roma almost had a third when Dzeko shot over from distance and Nainggolan’s shot was deflected wide.

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Trailing 3-0 from the first leg, City’s Gabriel Jesus scored after 116 seconds following Raheem Sterling’s pass.

Bernardo Silva hit the post before Leroy Sane had a goal disallowed for offside despite James Milner getting the last touch.

Mohamed Salah equalised on the night before Roberto Firmino hit the winner.

Liverpool will discover their semi-final opponents when the draw is made on Friday [12:00 BST] in Nyon, Switzerland.

City manager Pep Guardiola was forced to watch the whole of the second half from the stand after being sent off by Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz at the end of a controversial first half.

In a breathless opening 45 minutes City dominated and peppered the Liverpool net with 14 shots.

The visitors did not have a shot on target until the 41st minute but were much improved after the break.

Salah’s 39th goal of the season, a smart finish after Sadio Mane had gone to ground inside the City penalty area, left the hosts needing four goals.

Firmino earned Liverpool their third win over City this season after a mistake by Nicolas Otamendi.

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Salah danced through Watford’s defence to score early in the game before poking home Andy Robertson’s cross late in the first half.

He set up Roberto Firmino’s clever flick for Liverpool’s third, then added two late strikes to complete the rout.

Liverpool have now opened a seven-point gap over Chelsea in fifth.

Jurgen Klopp’s side also remain unbeaten at home in the Premier League this season.

It was Watford’s second successive defeat, and despite chances for Roberto Pereyra and Richarlison, they never looked like getting back into the game.

But the Hornets are still eight points above the relegation zone and sit comfortably in 11th position.

Before kick-off, Jurgen Klopp insisted his side wanted to be back “immediately on the winning side” following the disappointment of their 2-1 defeat at rivals Manchester United last Saturday.

And it was a more familiar-looking Liverpool side who turned up at Anfield as Klopp’s men put in a performance befitting their manager’s urgency.

They started the game with high intensity – pressing their opponents and winning the ball back in midfield to set Salah on his way.

It did not take long for the Egyptian to make a breakthrough. Within four minutes he had given Liverpool the lead and taken his season’s tally to 25 in the league.

Salah continued to cause Watford’s defence problems and it always looked likely he and Liverpool would get a second, overtaking Harry Kane as the league’s top scorer in the process.

Robertson’s inch-perfect cross from the left meant the second goal was a tap-in but Salah produced two moments of magic to dance his way to a hat-trick and fire in his fourth.

It was another masterclass from the Egyptian and his form mirrors Liverpool’s as they head into the final stages of the season.

The Reds are back up to third place in the table – with rivals Tottenham facing fifth-placed Chelsea in their next match.

With seven games left to play, Liverpool look to have consolidated their place in the top four and can also look forward to a Champions League quarter-final with Manchester City.

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