Revenge is sweet and best eaten cold, they say. Either way, Liverpool’s win over Everton after last season’s derailment tasted pretty good.

Jurgen Klopp wanted his players to be “angry and aggressive but in a football way.”

And no one answered the call more impressively than Mo Salah.

After being snubbed at the Ballon d’Or, the Egyptian King was both ruthless and imperious, yet so measured he might have been designing the Pyramids.

Reaffirming that he’s currently the best player on the planet, he carved up Everton and killed them off with pace and precision.

It made a mockery of his derisory seventh place in the Player of the Year voting.

Seventh! And fourth among the Premier League contenders behind Cristiano Ronaldo and the Chelsea pair Jorginho and N’Golo Kante.

A phrase of Liverpool owner John Henry’s comes to mind: “What are they smoking over there?”

That was the American’s response to Arsenal’s £40m plus £1 offer to prise Luis Suarez out of his Anfield contract.

With Salah holding out to double his £200k a week, you hope Henry isn’t thinking his star man is also on the weed.

But this was yet another reminder of the Egyptian’s other worldly ability.

Too late for those journalists who seem to be suffering as much from Messi-dependencia as Barcelona once did.

But, hopefully for Liverpool’s sake, not for Fenway Sports Group to give a new contract to their superstar.

Salah has now scored 19 goals in 19 games this season and several have been absolute pearlers.

The best, against Manchester City, won the BBC “Goal of the Month” award for October but only just beat off his own challenger the following week at Watford that was almost a replica.

Both were worthy of the Puskas award.

If this is a purple patch, he has been consistent for four seasons and, if anything, appears to be getting better.

His control during and at the end of the lung-bursting run for his second goal at Goodison was something to behold.

Outpacing Everton’s Chris Coleman from the halfway line, every touch was precise and then, when keeper Jordan Pickford came out, he managed to squeeze the ball past him but just inside the post.

He’s irreplaceable – there’s no one playing like this now and anyone half as good would still cost £100m.

Although he’s been guilty of being selfish at times, he seems a good team man and is genuinely popular in the dressing room as well as in the stands.

There is, however, a dark cloud on the horizon: he, along with Sadio Mane and Naby Keita, will be missing several matches in January/February for the African Nations Cup.

How Liverpool cope without them will define their season.

As it is, they’re very much in contention and in a top three who are now opening a gap on the field.

No one will be more acutely aware of these impending absences than Klopp, of course, so Liverpool fans have to trust him to come up with a plan.

A tactical tweak is more likely than a new signing, given how meticulous Liverpool’s recruitment has been in recent years.

Diogo Jota is a shining example of that as his brilliant fourth goal in midweek underlined.

To think Liverpool almost signed Timo Werner instead!

Joining the fabled front three would be a daunting task for any new recruit but the unheralded Jota, who was not even an automatic starter for Wolves, has turned it into the Fab Four.

That said, it’s hard to see anyone replacing both Mane and Salah without Liverpool’s goal threat being diminished.

As for Keita, who is not a regular starter, there are several more options while Harvey Elliott is hoping to be back before the end of the season.

Klopp’s impending problem is one his Everton counterpart Rafa Benitez could only dream about.

Just as the uncertainties about the future mentioned recently pale compared to those facing Everton.

The Toffees were a mess in every department and this hiding – their worst at home by their neighbours in 31 years – plunged them into a full-blown crisis.

It illustrated that the gap between the two clubs, separated only by a few acres of Stanley Park, has become a gulf.

After the damage the Toffees inflicted in the Reds in that fateful draw 13 months ago, putting the neighbours in their place was the appropriate response.

It didn’t have to go too far as Liverpool’s burning sense of injustice was as much against officialdom as it was their opponents.

Pickford went unpunished for his ending of Van Dijk’s season and VAR wrongly chalked off “the winner” at the death.

But by being purely professional they have done far more than that.

Benitez heard his name being chanted by fans – but those of Liverpool. They got their revenge alright. And some.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.