Liverpool moved to the top of the Premier League table, at least until Arsenal play on Thursday, as they beat Burnley 2-0 at Turf Moor on Boxing Day.
Goals from Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota secured all three points for Jurgen Klopp's side in what was an impressive display from the Reds.
The opener came in the 6th minute as Nunez brilliantly found the bottom right corner from the edge of the box. Jota then sealed the win in the 90th minute with a fine finish at the near post from Luis Diaz's assist.
Cody Gakpo started through the middle and put in a fantastic performance but the true hero for Klopp on Tuesday was Virgil van Dijk at the back.
Gakpo's performance against Burnley in numbers
The Dutch attacker started the game strongly with the assist for Nunez's opening goal. He ran down the left channel and held the ball up well before laying it off to the Uruguay international for him to find the back of the net from 20 yards.
Liverpool's centre-forward was also incredibly unlucky when the referee blew up for a foul after his fine strike from just inside the box beat James Trafford. The replays appeared to show that Nunez made minimal, if any, contact with Charlie Taylor but VAR opted against a review.
Gakpo also completed five of his eight attempted dribbles throughout the match and completed 93% (13/14) of his attempted passes in 67 minutes on the pitch.
It was a terrific, dynamic, display from the former PSV ace but Reds skipper van Dijk put in a sublime showing at the heart of the defence.
Van Dijk's performance against Burnley in numbers
Liverpool failed to grab a second goal in the game before Jota's 90th-minute strike and this meant that Burnley were one moment away from snatching a point for most of the match.
This meant that the Reds defence had to constantly be on alert and one loss of concentration could have cost them a valuable victory at Turf Moor.
Van Dijk ensured that Alisson did not have anything to contend with as the Dutch titan put in an imperious display to keep the hosts at bay.
Burnley ended the game without a single shot on target and the former Southampton ace's exceptional defensive efforts played a significant role in that.
The experienced colossus won 100% (8/8) of his duels throughout the game, including all seven of his aerial contests, and this shows that he stood up to the physical test. Van Dijk also made six clearances and one interception, whilst no other Liverpool defender made any clearances.
He was composed in possession of the ball to go along with his sensational defending. The central defender completed 93% (97/104) of his attempted passes and six of his nine long ball attempts, along with a 100% dribble success rate (1/1).
These statistics show that the Liverpool skipper was reliable with the ball at his feet and dominant when the opposition attempted to get past him to trouble Alisson's goal.
Therefore, he was the true hero for Klopp as his monstrous performance at the back kept the side's 1-0 advantage and stopped them from needing to chase the game late on.