Liverpool missed out on the chance to top the Premier League table against West Brom.

Jurgen Klopp’s side maintained their unbeaten record at Anfield this season with a 2-1 victory after Sadio Mane opened the scoring with a volleyed effort.

That was followed up with a second from the Reds just 14 minutes later as Philippe Coutinho added another with a well-taken finish.

But a late strike from Gareth McAuley prompted fraught nerves as the hosts held on to earn their first win over a Tony Pulis side since February 2011.

Here were the key talking points as the Reds moved into second…

Spurs clash will be one to savour

 

Tuesday’s visit of Tottenham cannot come around quick enough for Liverpool.

A meeting of two of the most attractive brands of football in the Premier League will give the EFL Cup tie an added allure in three days’ time.

Fresh from the frustration of Manchester United on Monday night, West Brom proved to be a real palette cleanser for Jurgen Klopp’s side.

A chance to usurp Arsenal atop the Premier League table may have gone missing but this was the closest thing to normal service being resumed.

Anfield has rediscovered its Fab Four

 

The last time Liverpool had four players working in such seamless tandem, they went within a whisker of lifting the Premier League title.

But as quickly as they had assembled, the axis of excellence that was Daniel Sturridge, Luis Suarez, Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling was broken up.

Between them, they amassed 74 league goals in that 2013/14 season and the current evidence suggests that their successors have finally emerged.

Of the nine goals scored from open play at Anfield this term, Philippe Coutinho, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Adam Lallana have been directly responsible.

Klopp appears to have rediscovered Liverpool’s Fab Four connection.

Matip is already a brilliant Bosman

 

Joel Matip continues to prove an absolute revelation at Anfield this season.

The signs appeared promising when his erstwhile Schalke team mate Matija Nastasic raved about him to Click Liverpool at the end of last season.

But few envisaged that the defender would appear so at ease barely 10 league games into his debut season in England.

This was another example of that comfortable transition from the Bundesliga into the Premier League as he largely kept West Brom at bay.

His formidable central pairing with Dejan Lovren must take some of the credit but there is no douting that Matip is already a genuine cut above.

Like James Milner just 12 months earlier, the 25-year-old is fast proving to be one of the best free transfer signings in Liverpool’s recent history.

Sturridge is entitled to sulk

 

The sight of Sturridge sitting sullen-faced on the substitutes’ bench will have provoked inevitable criticism.

Far be it for sulking players to be enabled or endorsed, but the out-of-favour striker may have just cause to feel a little aggrieved that he was overlooked against the Baggies.

They proved to be relative cannon fodder throughout and should have been, but for bouts of profligacy from Roberto Firmino and Emre Can, among others.

Sturridge struggled during the clash with United – no question – but he would undoubtedly have found himself among the goals in this encounter.