Liverpool player ratings: several 8/10s but one 6/10 in thumping Leeds win - gallery

Liverpool boosted their chances of securing European qualification as they cruised to a 6-1 victory against Leeds United at Elland Road.

Doubles from Mo Salah and Diogo Jota along with strikes from Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez delivered the Reds a first Premier League win in five games.

Liverpool had the lion’s share of possession in the opening stages but it was Leeds who looked more likely to break the deadlock. In the seventh minute, Reds keeper Alisson Becker got down to save a Rodrigo header before the Whites forward crashed an effort not too far wide.

Salah spurned Liverpool’s best chance they’d created to that point when he failed to make proper contact on Jordan Henderson’s cross.

In truth, the game was a humdrum affair before the visitors took the lead in the 35th minute through a Leeds error. Trent Alexander-Arnold nipped in to win the ball off Junior Firpo and he played a one-two with Salah before squaring a ball to give Gakpo the easiest of finishes.

Then the Reds had their second just four minutes later when Diogo Jota pilfered the ball from Western McKennie and drove at the Leeds defence before playing it to Salah, who beat home keeper Illan Meslier at the near post.

Klopp’s men couldn’t have made a worse start to the second period. Ibrahima Konate slipped deep in his own territory which allowed Luis Sinisterra to profit and finish beyond the onrushing Alisson.

However, Liverpool’s two-goal advantage was restored just five minutes later when a perfectly weighted Curtis Jones through ball picked out the run of Jota, who fired home his first goal for the club in more than a year.

The Reds were purring and added a fourth on 64 minutes. Andy Robertson forayed down the left to pick out Gakpo before he neatly worked the ball to Salah to notch his second of the game.

Liverpool then had a fifth in the 73rd minute when Jota rounded off a fine team move to double his tally. And in the dying embers, Nunez came off the bench to make the Reds’ triumph more emphatic.

The Reds stay eighth in the table on 50 points but have a game in hand on sixth-placed Aston Villa. Here’s how we rated the Liverpool players.