Salah-inspired Liverpool crush Watford on Ranieri's return to the Premier League

Reds run out 5-0 winners at Vicarage Road thanks to a Firmino hat-trick and an all-round brilliant display by the Egyptian forward

Mohamed Salah celebrates with Liverpool teammates after scoring the fourth goal against Watford in the Premier League match at Vicarage Road on Saturday. Getty Images

Mohamed Salah chases down the ball against Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster. Reuters

Watford manager Claudio Ranieri watches on from the touchline. Reuters

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp remonstrates from the touchline. Reuters

Emmanuel Dennis of Watford and Liverpool midfielder James Milner battle for the ball. Getty Images

Mohamed Salah celebrates scoring Liverpool's fourth goal against Watford. Reuters

Roberto Firmino celebrates scoring Liverpool's third goal against Watford. Reuters

Soccer Football - Premier League - Watford v Liverpool - Vicarage Road, Watford, Britain - October 16, 2021 Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates scoring their fourth goal Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club /league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.

Mohamed Salah breaks through the Watford defence to score. Reuters

Mohamed Salah shoots to score Liverpool's third goal against Watford. Getty Images

Roberto Firmino celebrates with Trent Alexander-Arnold after scoring Liverpool's second goal. Reuters

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk heads the ball in front of Watford winger Ismaila Sarr. Reuters

Sadio Mane celebrates with teammates after scoring Liverpool's first goal against Watford. Reuters

Sadio Mane shoots to score Liverpool's first goal against Watford. Reuters

Claudio Ranieri was given an immediate warning as to the challenge he faces at Watford after the Italian watched his new team get torn apart by a Mohamed Salah-inspired Liverpool at Vicarage Road on Saturday.

Appointed Watford's new manager during the international break, Ranieri was handed a rough welcome on his return to the Premier League as Jurgen Klopp's rampant Reds ran out 5-0 winners.

Sadio Mane got the visitors under way in the ninth minute when the Senegalese forward slotted home his 100th Premier League goal with a first time finish on the edge of the area after racing onto the end of Salah's sumptuous curling cross.

From the moment Liverpool took the lead, and indeed since kick-off, it was all one-way traffic, and Roberto Firmino doubled their advantage seven minutes before the interval. The Brazilian striker grabbed his second shortly after the break, before Salah made it 4-0 with another stunning goal not dissimilar to the one he scored against Manchester City.

After jinxing through three Watford players, the Egyptian forward cut inside onto his left foot to send Craig Cathcart sliding in the wrong direction and curled the ball into the far right corner for his seventh league goal of the season.

"I was in the box trying to find someone or score myself," Salah, 29, said. "It is all about the team, that is the most important thing."

Watford did start to show greater ambition during the second half but were unable to trouble Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, and the visitors added a fifth in stoppage time as Firmino completed his hat-trick by slotting the ball home from a Neco Williams cross.

The result extends Liverpool's unbeaten start to the season and moves Klopp's side on to 18 points from their first eight games, while Watford remain on seven points.

"We talked in dressing room about starting the game well and that's what we did," Salah said. "All the goals were very important but Bobby (Firmino) did a great job scoring a hat-trick, so congratulations to him, and Sadio also scored a nice goal."

Former Chelsea manager Ranieri has plenty of Premier League experience, which includes guiding Leicester City to the most remarkable of league title triumphs in 2016, and the Italian will need to call on some of that magic to stabilise a Watford side considered among the favourites for relegation.

"I'm sure we can improve, we have to improve," Ranieri told BT Sport. "Now we have to work hard and slowly, slowly we can get better."