LIVERPOOL made light work of newly promoted Ipswich Town as Alexander Isak scored his first double for the club at Portman Road to secure their first Premier League win this season.
The Sweden striker produced his most devastating performance since joining from Newcastle United for a British record £125m transfer fee 12 months ago, securing victory for his side by firing past Kjell Scherpen twice inside the opening nine minutes.
The win in Suffolk was also the first of Andoni Iraola’s tenure, ensuring he avoided becoming the club’s first manager since Brendan Rodgers to fail to win any of his opening three Premier League games.
The result means Ipswich drop to 13th in the table, while the visitors climb to fifth before the other Premier League fixtures this weekend.
Liverpool took the lead inside six minutes when Isak arrowed a strike past Scherpen at his near post after an incisive pass from Cody Gakpo.
It was the first time they had taken the lead in a Premier League match this season, having fallen behind against Nottingham Forest and Newcastle.
It was more of the same three minutes later as Gakpo and Isak combined once again to double Liverpool’s advantage.
It was the third time this season that the Dutchman, who came close to joining Manchester City during the transfer window, had assisted Isak in the Premier League.
The hosts could have halved the deficit on the half-hour mark had it not been for a timely last-ditch intervention from Ronald Araujo on his full debut to deny Daizen Maeda at the back post.
Isak was denied a hat-trick when the assistant referee raised his flag after he converted Florian Wirtz’s low cross shortly before half-time.
In the second half, the home side did probe the Liverpool defence but, even after finishing the transfer window with one of the highest net spends in the Premier League and several new additions, were unable to provide a cutting edge.
Liverpool supporters had more reason to celebrate in the final 25 minutes as they were given a first glimpse of new signing Bradley Barcola, who joined from Paris St-Germain in a deal worth £123m on Monday.
Gary O’Neil was fully aware of the difficulty of the task at hand before kick-off as he reeled off Liverpool’s array of attacking talent.
The Ipswich manager will be disappointed with how easily his side conceded the opening goal, with Scherpen beaten too easily at his near post.
But there were plenty of positives for O’Neil to take from his side’s performance against top Premier League opposition for the second weekend running.
There were encouraging flashes from Ipswich’s attackers, particularly Julio Enciso and Jack Clarke after he came off the bench in the second half.
But it was not enough for Ipswich to earn their first Premier League victory in 28 matches when trailing by two goals or more at half-time.
It goes without saying that their Premier League fate will not be decided by defeats against Manchester United and Liverpool in the space of five days.
O’Neil’s side have plenty of fight and quality, and look well-equipped for the survival battle this time around.