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Xabi Alonso said his return to Anfield was bittersweet after Liverpool thrashed Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 on Tuesday, thanks to a Luis Diaz hat-trick, to go top of the Champions League table. Cody Gakpo was also on target as the Reds maintained their 100 percent record in Europe after four games. Alonso, a Champions League winner during his playing days in the Liverpool midfield, turned his back on succeeding Jurgen Klopp to remain at Leverkusen after leading them to an unbeaten German league and cup double last season.

The Spaniard’s name was chanted by the home support in the closing stages.

Liverpool, though, are not left wondering what might have been as Arne Slot continued his stunning start as manager with a 14th win in 16 games in all competitions.

“One thing is the game and the other thing was the reception,” said Alonso, who played for the Reds between 2004 and 2009.

“I have a bitter feeling but I really appreciate and (I’m) thankful that after so many years I come here and still have that bond with the club. But it would have been nicer with a better result.”

Leverkusen remain on seven points from their opening four Champions League matches after another sobering night for their ambitions to match the heights they hit last season.

Alonso’s men sit fourth in the Bundesliga, seven points adrift of leaders Bayern Munich, and failed to master what their coach described pre-match as a “beautiful challenge”.

Slot’s decision to move Diaz into a central role up front proved inspired as the Colombian struck his first hat-trick for the club.

Sleepless night

Just like in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Brighton that took Slot’s men to the top of the Premier League, it took until the second half for both Liverpool and the Anfield crowd to come to life.

“Second half we could adjust the gameplan, we took more risks and we were better with the ball as well,” said Slot.

“If you work or play at Liverpool you always feels pressure but we embrace this because we want to complete for everything. You have to accept if you work or play here you can enjoy these incredible evenings.”

A cagey tactical battle was sparked into life on the hour mark by a moment of stunning quality.

Curtis Jones spun his marker before splitting the Leverkusen defence with a pinpoint pass for Diaz, who nonchalantly chipped the advancing Lukas Hradecky.

Two minutes later, Liverpool killed the visitors off with another flowing move.

Mohamed Salah‘s driven cross was headed in at the back post by the flying Gakpo.

The linesman raised his flag to momentarily silence the celebrations, but a VAR review showed the Dutch forward was onside for his sixth goal of the season.

Victor Boniface headed wide with a huge chance to bring Leverkusen immediately back into the game.

Instead, Liverpool pulled further clear seven minutes from time when Diaz controlled Salah’s looping cross and fired home.

The Colombian then rounded off the scoring with his ninth goal of the season in stoppage time with another clinical finish after Darwin Nunez‘s blocked shot fell into his path.

Liverpool’s return of 12 points means they are almost certainly already assured of a place in the knockout phase, but are closing in on sealing direct progression to the last 16 via a top-eight finish in the 36-team league.

Leverkusen slip to 11th but Alonso is confident of progressing with three of their remaining four games to come at home.

“We are in a good position to fight to go through to the next round,” he added. “Today it will be tougher to sleep but we have time to see the positives as well.”

Liverpool moved to the top of the Premier League with a resounding 3-0 win over Bournemouth as Tottenham eased the pressure on Ange Postecoglou by beating Brentford 3-1 on Saturday. Nicolas Jackson scored twice as Chelsea cruised to a 3-0 win at West Ham, while Aston Villa are level on points at the top after coming from behind to beat Wolves 3-1. Liverpool suffered the first setback of Arne Slot’s early days in charge when Nottingham Forest shocked Anfield seven days ago.

But the Reds responded in style to blow Bournemouth away before half-time.

Luis Diaz was rested for an impressive 3-1 win at AC Milan to start Liverpool’s Champions League campaign in midweek.

Restored to the starting line-up, the Colombian struck twice inside two minutes.

Diaz pounced on a misjudgement from Kepa Arrizabalaga to latch onto Ibrahima Konate’s long ball and round the stranded Spanish goalkeeper before sweeping into an empty net.

Trent Alexander-Arnold then teed up Diaz to fire in his fifth goal of the season.

Darwin Nunez was making his first start of the season and ended his 14-game goal drought at club level in spectacular fashion by curling into the far corner.

A three-goal margin of victory takes Liverpool ahead of Manchester City and Aston Villa, who also have 12 points, on goal difference.

Solanke off the mark

Spurs had won just one of their opening four league games to continue a downward trend in form spilling over from the end of last season.

Postecoglou’s men also had a narrow escape with two late goals to avoid a League Cup exit to second-tier Coventry in midweek and got off to a nightmare start against Brentford.

Bryan Mbeumo’s thumping volley after just 22 seconds put the Bees in front.

Yet, Spurs got the quick response they needed to stave off any revolt from the home fans.

Dominic Solanke opened his Tottenham account with a tap in after Mark Flekken parried James Maddison‘s effort.

Brennan Johnson then hit back at his critics with an accurate low finish.

Maddison secured the points five minutes from time with his first goal since March.

Villa also needed a turnaround for their fourth win in five games after Matheus Cunha blasted Wolves in front midway through the first half.

Ollie Watkins’ deflected effort equalised before a rare goal from Ezri Konsa put Villa in front.

Jhon Duran then continued his scintillating form as an impact substitute with his fourth goal this season off the bench.

– Chelsea cruise –

Chelsea continued their positive start under Enzo Maresca as Jackson’s double put a woeful West Ham to the sword at the London Stadium.

The Senegal striker now has four goals in five Premier League games this season after two cool finishes beyond Alphonse Areola as West Ham were opened up at will.

Jackson turned provider for Cole Palmer to round off the scoring inside the first two minutes of the second half.

West Ham have now lost their opening three home league games for the first time in their history to mark an inauspicious start for new manager Julen Lopetegui.

“The points are important, but in this moment the most important thing is the way we progress,” Maresca said after the Blues moved up to fourth in the table.

Newcastle had the chance to go top but the Magpies’ poor performances this season finally caught up with them in a 3-1 defeat at Fulham.

Raul Jimenez fired the home side in front before Nick Pope let Emile Smith-Rowe’s effort slip through his grasp.

Harvey Barnes cut Newcastle’s deficit just a minute into the second half.

But Bruno Guimaraes’ slack pass teed up Reiss Nelson to seal Newcastle’s fate in stoppage time.

Ipswich struck deep into added time to snatch a 1-1 draw in the battle of the newly-promoted sides at Southampton.

Everton and Leicester are both also still looking for their first win of the season after a 1-1 draw at the King Power.

Manchester United travel to Crystal Palace in the 1630GMT kick-off aiming to avenge their 4-0 humiliation at Selhurst Park back in May.

The blockbuster clash of the weekend takes place on Sunday when champions City host Arsenal, who have finished second to Pep Guardiola’s men for each of the past two seasons.

Arne Slot passed his first major examination as Liverpool manager with a statement 3-0 win at Manchester United thanks to Luis Diaz‘s double and a Mohamed Salah strike on Sunday. Slot has the unenviable task of succeeding Jurgen Klopp but has made a perfect start with a 100 percent record from three Premier League games to sit alongside Manchester City at the top of the table. “I think everything you want to see as a manager you saw in this game,” said Slot.

A second consecutive defeat leaves United boss Erik ten Hag already under pressure just three games into the new season.

The Dutchman survived an internal review at the end of last season after overseeing the club’s worst ever Premier League finish of eighth.

A shock FA Cup final win over Manchester City saved Ten Hag’s job and offered hope for a fresh start, particularly after being backed with a 200 million pounds ($262 million) spend in the transfer market.

But all the hallmarks of United’s failings last season were exposed by the impressive visitors.

“It’s not like I’m Harry Potter,” said Ten Hag.”We just had a third game in the season and again we have to build a new team.

“We will be fine. It’s clear we have to improve but at the end of the season I’m quite confident that we will have a big chance to lift another trophy.”

Casemiro was the fall guy for the home side as the Brazilian was at fault for both Diaz’s goals and hooked off at half-time in favour of youngster Toby Collyer.

United paraded new 42 million pounds signing Manuel Ugarte before kick-off and must now hope the Uruguayan can have a transformational impact to shore up the midfield.

Liverpool, by contrast, did not delve into the market for a defensive midfielder and Slot’s decision to move Ryan Gravenberch into that role has proved an inspired early decision.

Despite Liverpool’s ascendency over United during Klopp’s reign, the German managed to win only two of his 11 away games against United.

This time Liverpool were ruthless and could easily have matched their record 5-0 victory away to United in 2021.

Salah’s swansong season?

United had been handed an early reprieve when Trent Alexander-Arnold fired in Diaz’s deflected cross but the ball had struck Salah, who was in an offside position, on its way through to the right-back.

Casemiro had looked more like his old self in the opening matches of the campaign after struggling badly last season.

But the five-time Champions League winner had another afternoon that suggested his time at this level may now be over.

The former Real Madrid midfielder’s slack pass was pounced on by Gravenberch who fed Salah and his dinked cross was headed in by Diaz at the back post.

Ten Hag’s men collapsed once the second goal went in three minutes before half-time.

Casemiro was caught in possession by Diaz, who then raced into the box to sweep home Salah’s cross.

Salah got his customary goal against United on 56 minutes to rub salt in the home side’s wounds.

The Egyptian’s stunning finish from Dominik Szoboszlai‘s pass was his 15th goal in 16 meetings against the Red Devils, including at least one in each of his last seven appearances at Old Trafford.

However, he again hinted this season could be his last for Liverpool with less than 12 months left to run on his contract.

“I was coming to the game, (thinking) it could be the last time (playing at Old Trafford),” Salah told Sky Sports.

“I had a good summer and had a long time to myself to try to stay positive because as you know it’s my last year at the club.

“I just want to enjoy it and I don’t want to think about it.”

Arsenal have been tipped as the side most likely to dethrone City as champions after four consecutive titles for Pep Guardiola’s men.

But Liverpool could have done little more in the early weeks of the campaign to dispell any doubts they remain contenders even without Klopp at the helm.

Arne Slot enjoyed a winning bow as Liverpool boss at Anfield with Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah scoring in a 2-0 win over Brentford on Sunday. The Reds join Manchester City, Arsenal and Brighton as the only sides with maximum points from two games of the new Premier League season. Tougher tests lie ahead of Slot in his daunting task of succeeding Jurgen Klopp, starting with a visit to Manchester United next weekend. But the early signs are positive for the Dutchman as his side are yet to concede and showcased their wealth of attacking options, spearheaded by Salah.

“Most players are quite used to what we want because it is not too different to what Jurgen did in the past,” said Slot after building on an opening weekend win at Ipswich.

“We still have to prove a lot against teams that can end up in the top six.”

Slot is expected to instill a more possession-focused approach than the one adopted by Klopp in his near nine years in charge.

However, Liverpool’s opener was straight out of the Klopp copybook.

From a Brentford corner, Salah released Diogo Jota, who timed his pass perfectly into Diaz to charge through on goal and fire into the top corner on 13 minutes.

Thereafter there were only flashes of the football Slot is hoping to bring in the first half.

Brentford were again missing Ivan Toney, who is expected to leave the club before Friday’s transfer deadline.

But the Bees still posed a threat without the England striker and should have levelled 10 minutes into the second half.

Nathan Collins met Mathias Jensen’s enticing cross with a bullet header that Alisson Becker did brilliantly to parry.

That warning awoke Liverpool from their slumber early in the second period.

Collins made a goal-saving block moments later to deny Jota turning in Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s low cross.

Vitaly Janelt was next to get a vital foot in to prevent Salah rounding off a slick team move.

Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken then produced a brilliant stop to turn Diaz’s powerful effort behind.

As is so often the case, the Reds had to turn to Salah to provide the clinical finish to finally make the points safe.

The impressive Diaz this time bagged the assist and the Egyptian managed to time his run perfectly to remain onside and dink the ball over Flekken.

“In the first half there is more energy in the other team, then in the second half it eventually leads to gaps that open up,” added Slot.

“In the end Brentford didn’t have the legs anymore to defend us.”

Slot was serenaded in the closing stages by the 60,000 crowd chanting his name — as they had been instructed to do by Klopp at his farewell in May.

For much of last season Liverpool looked on course to give Klopp a glorious goodbye as they rivalled City and Arsenal for the title until falling away in the final weeks of the season.

There has been much consternation among the Liverpool support at the lack of a single new signing heading into the final week of the transfer window to strengthen that squad.

But they look best placed of the rest to push City and Arsenal again if there is to be a three-way battle for the title.