Salah hit a hat-trick as Liverpool blew Bournemouth away
Saturday 8 December 2018 22:54, UK
Mohamed Salah sent another record tumbling with his scintillating hat-trick in Liverpool's 4-0 thrashing of Bournemouth.
Salah's opener at the Vitality Stadium was his 40th Premier League goal in just 52 appearances - meaning he has reached the milestone in fewer games than any other Liverpool player.
In the history of the competition, only Alan Shearer and Andy Cole have reached 40 goals in fewer games (both 45), underlining the significance of Salah's achievement.
Salah's 40th Premier League goal came after Asmir Begovic could only parry Roberto Firmino's long-range effort into his path, and the Egyptian took his tally to 42 with two fine individual goals in the second half.
Salah's hat-trick - the first by a Liverpool player in an away game since Luis Suarez against Cardiff in 2014 - takes him to 10 Premier League goals for the season so far, putting him joint-top of the scoring charts with Arsenal's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
After a relatively slow start to the campaign, Salah is now scoring at a similar rate to last season.
Since the start of last season in Europe's top five leagues, only Barcelona's Lionel Messi has scored more goals (43) than Salah's total of 42. Tottenham's Harry Kane is next highest on 39 goals.
Salah's goals helped Liverpool move a point clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table, with the champions suffering a 2-0 defeat at Chelsea in the evening kick-off.
