LIVERPOOL’S Mohamed Salah produced a superb double to hand his team a 2-0 victory against Watford at Anfield and extend the Reds’ unbeaten start to the Premier League season to 17 games.

Salah finished a lightning-quick Liverpool break in the 38th minute, collecting the ball on the run from Sadio Mane before cutting inside on the edge of the box and whipping it into the top corner with his right foot.

It was a sensational finish to a sublime move, which involved each of Liverpool’s attacking trident, with Roberto Firmino starting the counterattack in his own half with an acrobatic pass to Mane, who fed the ball rapidly to Salah to do the rest.

Fans were left purring over the strike, which was Salah’s 83rd in a Liverpool shirt and moved him ahead of Luiz Suarez in the all-time Reds scoring charts — but still having played seven games fewer than the Uruguayan did for Liverpool.

The Reds thought they had doubled their lead in the second half through Mane when he headed a Xherdan Shaqiri cross past Ben Foster, but the goal was disallowed for the tightest of offside margins on being checked by the VAR.

Both sides spurned good chances in an entertaining game, with bottom of the table Watford hitting the post from a late corner.

But it was Salah who put the game beyond doubt with a brilliantly improvised finish in the 90th minute.

After Divock Origi’s scuffed shot came to him near the goaline, Salah flicked the ball between his legs, nutmegging the defender and sending it into the net.

The win for Jurgen Klopp’s men was their 16th in 17 Premier League games this season, and extended their lead over Leicester at the top of the table to 11 points before the remaining action over the weekend.

Liverpool fans were buoyed by the news Friday that Klopp has signed an extension to his contract, which will keep him at Anfield until 2024, as the German bids to guide the team to their first league title in 30 years and add to last season’s Champions League glory.

Meanwhile, Chelsea’s lackluster Premier League play continued Saturday as the Blues lost for the fourth time in five matches, this time 1-0 at home against Bournemouth.

Frank Lampard’s team has been good in the Champions League, qualifying for next year’s knockout phase earlier last week with a 2-1 win over French side Lille.

But after ripping through the Prem during most of October and November, Chelsea’s form has fallen off a cliff recently, with the win over promoted Aston Villa their lone domestic triumph in more than a month.

Bournemouth appeared to be the ideal foe for Lampard’s side against which to reverse its recent fortunes. The Cherries are missing several regulars because of injury, and they came into the contest having dropped five consecutive Premier League games. But they deserved the three points they picked up in London, even if they needed a little help from the video assistant referee to get them.

The decisive play in the match came with just six minutes remaining.

Dan Gosling sneaked behind the hosts’ back line and, facing his own net, looped a shot over the head of Blues keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and over the line before Cesar Azpilicueta could clear the ball away.

(SD-Agencies)