Liverpool 5 Huddersfield Town 0 - Gulf in class evident once again but Terriers fans take it all in their stride

A goal behind inside just 15 seconds, Huddersfield Town crashed to a 28th defeat in this most miserable of seasons.

Like many of those recent reverses, the Terriers were their own worst enemies with defending that, at times, bordered on kamikaze.

How else to explain Naby Keita’s opener, which unbelievably came after Jan Siewert’s men had kicked off.

Seven touches of the ball was all it took to gift possession to Liverpool, who were not going to pass up such an early present with a return to the top of the Premier League the prize for completing a second league double over Huddersfield in as many seasons.

After such a demoralising start, the night was always going to be a toil but the 1,800 or so fans who had braved the M62 on a Friday tea-time responded in the best possible way. With good humour and no little self deprecation.

‘The Championship, we’re on our way,’ was the opening gambit from the blue and white half of the Anfield Road end, moments after Keita’s early strike.

Followed on 15 minutes by the chant, ‘How s*** must you be, it’s only 1-0’ - a theme that was returned to during the evening as the goals started to pile up.

Then came ‘we’re gonna win 4-3’ early in the second half before the sight of Juninho Bacuna finding the net long after the offside flag had been raised allowed the visiting fans to dance an ironic jig of delight, while singing ‘We’ve scored a goal’.

All good fun and a welcome distraction from the big gulf in class on the pitch. Liverpool, even when clearly conserving energy with next week’s Champions League semi-final against Barcelona in mind, were simply too good.

This was no surprise. Not when there are a mammoth 77 points separating top and bottom in the table this morning, the highest gap in Premier League history.

Or when Mo Salah and Sadio Mane have 21 and 20 league goals respectively to their name, while Huddersfield have managed 20 in total.

What perhaps did raise a few eyebrows among a sell-out Anfield crowd was just how many chances the visitors would create against the title hopefuls.

Juninho Bacuna brought a flying save from Alisson early in the second half, not long after Karlan Grant had been agonisingly close to applying the final touch when sliding in at the back post.

Jon Gorenc Stankovic also had an early shot deflected just wide, while Jonathan Hogg wasted a gilt-edged opportunity when his cross intended for the unmarked Grant found Dejan Lovren instead.

That inability to capitalise when chances come along has been Town’s Achilles heel all season and, sure enough, Liverpool made the Yorkshire side pay for such profligacy.

If Pep Guardiola had been hoping Town could crank up the pressure on his City side’s title rivals by frustrating the Reds, such a notion was disabused inside 15 seconds.

A horribly loose pass from Jon Gorenc Stankovic just outside the Town area was latched upon by Keita.

He quickly exchanged passes with Salah before drilling a low shot across Jonas Lossl and into the net off the post.

It brought up a century of goals in all competitions this season for Jurgen klopp’s men - exactly five times the tally mustered by Yorkshire’s sole top flight representative.

The 101st for the Reds arrived midway through the first half. Play was spread to Andrew Robertson on the left flank and the former Hull City full back curled in an exquisite cross that left the Town defence flat-footed.

Sadio Mane, quick as a flash, darted between Terence Kongolo and Christopher Schindler to nod past Lossl.

Salah took his own tally of league goals for the season to 20 on the stroke of half-time. Trent Alexander-Arnold, collecting the ball just inside the home side’s half, pinged a delightful ball for the Egyptian to chase.

Lossl, believing he could get there first, also set off towards the pass but was left stranded when Salah got there first and lobbed the ball into an empty net.

Huddersfield, after those early chances for Grant and Bacuna after the restart, were again picked apart midway through the half when Henderson’s cross was nodded in by Mane.

The misery was still not over, Salah capitalising on another fine run and cross from Robertson seven minutes from time.

It could, in fact, have been an even worse evening with Mane also firing against a post, while other chances went begging courtesy of wayward shots from Daniel Sturridge on his first start of 2019 and Salah.

Not that this unduly bothered the Kop, who joined Klopp in the sort of post-match celebrations that used to be a regular sight after Huddersfield games when David wagner was in charge.

Those days seem a long time ago now with this latest setback leaving Huddersfield just one defeat short of joining Derby County, Sunderland and Ipswich Town in the Premier League hall of ignominy for the most in a season.

No wonder the travelling fans last night tried to lift their own spirits by having a bit of fun while no doubt counting down the days until this sorriest of campaigns is finally over.

Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold (Gomez 88), Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Wijnaldum (Shaqiri 73), Keita; Salah, Sturridge (Oxlade-Chamberlain 73), Mane. Unused substitutes: Mignolet, Milner, Origi, Matip.

Huddersfield Town: Lossl; Smith, Schindler, Kongolo, Durm; Hogg, Stankovic (Pritchard 81), Bacuna; Mbenza (Kachunga 88), Mounie (Lowe 65), Grant. Unused substitutes: Coleman, Diakhaby, Jorgensen, Daly.

Referee: K Friend (Leicestershire).