Liverpool player ratings, winners and losers as Cody Gakpo and 5 ...

ANFIELD, LIVERPOOL // Liverpool moved seven points ahead of Chelsea, capitalizing on the West London side's defeat to Fulham by putting Leicester City to the sword in the Anfield fog.

Jordan Ayew finished well to open the scoring inside the first few minutes of the game but it was Liverpool bombarding Jakub Stolarczyk's goal with shots. Eventually, Cody Gakpo curled a brilliant equalizer into the back of the net after cutting inside from the left, scoring to make it 1-1 just before half-time.

It took only a couple of minutes of the second half for Curtis Jones to put Liverpool in front after a lengthy VAR check. And when Mohamed Salah found the bottom corner, the result was done.

Winners

Gakpo continued his good form in the final third and Jones getting on the scoresheet again while playing as the number 10 can only be a good thing too. The strength of the Liverpool bench, with Federico Chiesa back and Luis Diaz rested, was another big bonus. Moving seven points clear at the top of the table, it was a winning day all around for the Reds.

Losers

Darwin Nunez would have wanted to score while he was handed a rare chance to start a game but he missed a couple of opportunities and was caught offside a couple of times too. It wasn't a bad showing, but it wasn't the start of the number nine pecking order changing either. Arne Slot was giving him plenty of positional instructions from the sidelines.

Player ratings

Alisson Becker (6). Beaten by a good early finish that left him with no chance down low to his right. The Brazilian wasn't hugely involved apart from that, which is a familiar situation for him.

Trent Alexander-Arnold (6). Caught out of position in the move that led to the Ayew goal and was slow to get back a couple of times against Stephy Mvididi, who is a tricky customer. Some of his crossing was sensational but some of his passes didn't hit the mark.

Joe Gomez (7). Commanding and front-footed in his challenges and usually good in possession, too. Patson Daka didn't get much change out of him. Harshly booked for the most minimal of fouls.

Virgil van Dijk (7). Like Gomez and Alisson, he did what he needed to do. Aside from that, there wasn't much more to report on. His passing ability is useful in matches like these but the big switch wasn't often on because of how compact the Foxes were.

Andy Robertson (6). Turned a little easily on the opening goal and didn't always make the most of the opportunities that he had to cross when he was in good positions. Solid enough defensively.

Ryan Gravenberch (7). The Dutchman is really useful in every game, but especially in matches where there is a low block to break down. He kept things ticking here and ensured there was sustained pressure. Eventually, that was going to tell.

Alexis Mac Allister (6). It was a quiet-ish performance from the Argentine. He kept things simple but this wasn't his most influential game. It didn't need to be.

Curtis Jones (7). Took the ball impressively on the half-turn a couple of times but sometimes got a bit crowded out in the middle of the field. Scored the goal to put Liverpool in front and could have got another with a good break into the box.

Mohamed Salah (7). Leicester kept him pretty quiet for the most part but eventually, he was able to score. There was little to no space to run into and he couldn't quite carve out enough of an angle on a couple of occasions. Sealing the game with Liverpool's third goal, though, Leicester finally couldn't get close enough to snuff out his threat.

Darwin Nunez (6). Wasn't particularly involved in the game first half and struggled for meaningful touches. In the second, that changed slightly when he held things up and began to link up with his teammates better.

Cody Gakpo (8). Scored a brilliant goal from the left hand side cutting inside onto his stronger foot. He knows how to beat his marker and his goalscoring form has been impressive this season so far. He's now into double figures in this campaign.

Substitutes

Diogo Jota (6). Looking sharp off the bench again, it was a slight surprise that he didn't start in this one. He got through plenty of off-the-ball work and should be in with a shout for the weekend.

Dominik Szoboszlai (6). Booked, which means he has picked up a one-match ban. It comes at a bad time, really, considering how good he was against Spurs, and that he only came off the bench here.

Kostas Tsimikas, Wataru Endo and Harvey Elliott also came on but they appeared too late to earn a rating.