Liverpool’s starting front three without injured Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz, and Darwin Nunez, scored goals in the Premier League leaders’ 3-1 victory over Burnley on Saturday.

After winning 2-0 against Everton just hours before, Manchester City made an incredibly short climb back to the top of the league. The Reds reacted with a victory that put even more strain on their already thin resources.

The three points restored Liverpool’s two-point lead, although the win against the team finishing last in the league lacked conviction, which did not quite match the occasion of the hosts’ largest league attendance of 59,896 since the Anfield Road stand’s completion.

For a while, it seemed Liverpool was still reeling from last week’s loss at Arsenal. The team was missing injured striker Mohamed Salah, goalkeeper Alisson Becker, and defender Joe Gomez due to sickness.

In the 31st, they took the lead at a corner thanks to the trusted right boot of Trent Alexander-Arnold, who set a new record of 58 Premier League assists by a defender, and the similarly dependable head of Jota.

Further issues were created by Alexander-Arnold’s clumsy surrender of an equaliser when Dara O’Shea headed in at a corner right before halftime. Alexander-Arnold had only recently returned from a knee injury.

Harvey Elliott, the England international’s substitute, relieved some of the burden by setting up headed goals for Nunez in the 78th and Diaz in the 52nd.

On-loan Chelsea attacker David Fofana, though, would have raised eyebrows at City and raised doubts about Liverpool’s capacity to compete with their enduring rivals if he had played with the same level of clinicality as he did when he scored twice last weekend.

In the next weeks, Salah and Dominic Szoboszlai of Liverpool should return from their injuries.