LONDON -- Liverpool surged 22 points clear at the top of the Premier League with a 4-0 win over Southampton, while Bruno Fernandes made his Manchester United debut in a goalless draw against Wolves on Saturday.
Mohamed Salah scored twice as the champions-elect equalled a Premier League record with a 20th straight home win at Anfield.
Southampton believed they should have had a penalty early in the second half when Danny Ings went down in the box against his old club, but no spot-kick was given. Liverpool went straight up the other end to take the lead through Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
"The game would have been going in a different direction," admitted Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.
"We had to change in the second half. That helped massively and when we are rolling it's difficult to stop."
Jordan Henderson doubled the European champions' lead with a smart finish on the hour mark.
Salah then produced two cool finishes in the final 20 minutes as Klopp's men took their tally of points to a remarkable 100 from the last possible 102.
Having completed his move from Sporting Lisbon on Thursday, in a deal worth an initial £47 million ($61.2 million), Fernandes went straight into the starting line-up at Old Trafford.
The 25-year-old midfielder delivered a composed display full of neat passing as he lined up behind United striker Anthony Martial and took the role of chief creator.
He kept Rui Patricio on his toes with a series of long-range drives, one of which the Wolves goalkeeper nearly spilled into his own net.
There was also a booking for Fernandes for pulling back Raul Jimenez in the second half of a tame clash that left sixth-placed United without a win in their last three league games.
"Bruno is a top player. It's the first game. Bruno is one of those who, when he gets it into feet, he wants players moving in front of him and we didn't," United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said.
"We've played so many games in the past few months the players are down to the bare bones. Energy levels are down and we need a break."
Leicester and Chelsea consolidated their places in the top four in a 2-2 draw at the King Power Stadium.
Fourth-placed Chelsea sit five points clear of fifth-placed Sheffield United and six ahead of United and Wolves.
Frank Lampard's men have won just four of their last 13 league games and needed two goals from centre-back Antonio Rudiger just to claim a point.
"Not many people gave us the top-four slot and I understand why, and it's probably the same now," Lampard said.
- Blades on the rise -
All the goals came in the second half as Rudiger nodded Chelsea in front before two goals in 10 minutes from Harvey Barnes and Ben Chilwell turned the game around for Leicester.
A brilliant leap from Rudiger 19 minutes from time denied the Foxes all three points, but Brendan Rodgers' men maintain an eight-point lead over Chelsea in third.
Sheffield United are Chelsea's closest challengers as Chris Wilder's men earned a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace thanks to a calamitous own goal from Eagles goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.
A double for Robert Snodgrass after Issa Diop's opener put West Ham 3-1 up against Brighton at the London Stadium, but the Seagulls fought back through Pascal Gross and Glenn Murray for a point that keeps them two points above the drop zone.
Watford failed to even collect a point after going 2-0 up on Everton through Adam Masina and Roberto Pereyra.
The Hornets switched off from two set-pieces in first half stoppage time to allow Yerry Mina's double to bring Carlo Ancelotti's men level.
Everton then went down to 10 men when Fabian Delph was sent off but snatched all three points through Theo Walcott.
Aston Villa's celebrations at reaching the League Cup final in midweek were short-lived as 10-man Bournemouth held on for a 2-1 win that lifted them up to 16th.
Norwich are seven points adrift of safety at the bottom of the table after a 0-0 draw at Newcastle.
Agence France-Presse
PARIS -- Liverpool and Chelsea clinched impressive victories on the road in the Champions League on Wednesday as Lionel Messi, Dries Mertens and teenage sensation Erling Braut Haaland claimed impressive goal-scoring landmarks.
Defending champions Liverpool defeated Genk 4-1 which saw Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain score twice while Michy Batshuayi gave Chelsea a 1-0 win at Ajax.
Elsewhere, Messi became the first player to score at least once in 15 successive Champions League seasons as Barcelona beat Slavia Prague 2-1.
Napoli defeated Salzburg 3-2 in a game which saw Mertens go past Diego Maradona's 115-goals tally for the Italian club while Haaland's two strikes for the Austrians in the same game made him the first player to score six times in his first three Champions League games.
England international Oxlade-Chamberlain, who missed almost all of last season due to injury, opened the scoring in the second minute at the Luminus Arena and scored Liverpool's second just before the hour mark.
Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah then set up each other for late goals to wrap up the victory before substitute Stephen Odey pulled one back for Genk.
Liverpool remain a point behind Napoli in Group E.
"It's a special tournament to play in. It was great to see the boys do so well last year, being on the bench at the end and watching the boys bring it home," Oxlade-Chamberlain, an unused substitute in last year's final win, told BT Sport.
Haaland, 19, and widely tipped for a big-money move to England or Spain, had the ball in the Napoli net after just 10 minutes in Austria. However, a VAR review scrubbed off the goal for offside.
The Italians made the most of their reprieve when veteran forward Mertens converted a cross from captain Jose Callejon to score. It was the Belgian's 115th goal for Napoli and took him level with Maradona.
Haaland levelled from the penalty spot in the dying moments of the first half.
Mertens, however, grabbed his second on 64 minutes, again with Callejon the provider to go past Maradona's record set between 1984-1991 and close in on Marek Hamsik's all-time club high of 121.
Haaland equalized again but just a minute later, Napoli restored their lead through Lorenzo Insigne in a breathless second half.
Haaland at least had the consolation of becoming the first player to score six goals in his first three Champions League games.
"It's a great night for Mertens. Napoli are back to winning a Champions League away fixture after three years and we hope to keep that going now," said Napoli coach Carlo Ancelotti.
- 'Huge' win for Chelsea -
Chelsea showed that their young side were ready for the European stage after Batshuayi's late winner fired them to a 1-0 win at Ajax.
Substitute Batshuayi struck in the 86th minute and put Chelsea level on six points with last year's semi-finalists at the top of Group H.
"It's feels huge, which always scares me because there's a lot to do. We're entitled to be excited about the way we played tonight," said coach Frank Lampard.
Jonathan Ikone's stoppage-time goal gave Lille a 1-1 draw at home to Valencia for whom Denis Cheryshev had opened the scoring just after the hour mark. Valencia are third in the table, two points behind Ajax and Chelsea.
Barcelona stay top of Group F after a 2-1 win at Slavia Prague.
Messi opened the scoring after three minutes, beating Slavia goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar with a low left-foot shot to become the first player to score in 15 consecutive Champions League campaigns.
Barca grabbed a second on 57 minutes when Slavia winger Peter Olayinka deflected a Luis Suarez close-range shot into his own net. Left-back Jan Boril scored for Slavia five minutes after half-time.
Barca are three points ahead of Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund after the Italians got the better of their German visitors 2-0 at the San Siro with Lautaro Martinez and Antonio Candreva scoring.
Marcel Sabitzer set up a goal and scored a spectacular winner as RB Leipzig came from behind to beat Zenit St Petersburg 2-1 to take a two-point lead in Group G.
Portuguese champions Benfica, without a point after their first two games in the group, defeated struggling Lyon 2-1.
Rafa Silva was on hand to make the most of a Lyon defensive mix-up to find the target, compounding the misery for a French side who are only out of the relegation zone in the league courtesy of goal difference.
Memphis Depay levelled for the French visitors on 70 minutes but Benfica clinched their first win when substitute Pizzi scored in the dying moments.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
