Mohamed Salah sent another record tumbling with his scintillating hat-trick in Liverpool’s 4-nil thrashing of Bournemouth.

Salah’s opener at the Vitality Stadium was his 40th Premier League goal in just 52 appearances – meaning he has reached the milestone in fewer games than any other Liverpool player.

In the history of the competition, only Alan Shearer and Andy Cole have reached 40 goals in fewer games (both 45), underlining the significance of Salah’s achievement.

Salah’s 40th Premier League goal came after Asmir Begovic could only parry Roberto Firmino’s long-range effort into his path, and the Egyptian took his tally to 42 with two fine individual goals in the second half.

Salah’s hat-trick – the first by a Liverpool player in an away game since Luis Suarez against Cardiff in 2014 – takes him to 10 Premier League goals for the season so far, putting him joint-top of the scoring charts with Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

After a relatively slow start to the campaign, Salah is now scoring at a similar rate to last season.