The Egyptian forward's goals as Liverpool pulled further clear of Leicester, who could only draw 1-1 with Norwich later on Saturday.

Chelsea lost ground in fourth after they were beaten 1-0 at home by Bournemouth while Sheffield United and Burnley both claimed wins.

In tricky winds, Liverpool were far from their best against a Watford side who impressed in their first match under manager Nigel Pearson.

But Salah's goals extended Liverpool's club-record unbeaten league run to 34 games and made it 16 straight wins at Anfield.

"The important thing - we win," Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said.

"December and January is where you have to show how much you want to win and the boys did that against a difficult game.

"Watford have found organisation. We had to fight and we did. We had to use Alisson, there were some superb saves from him today. I think my boys reacted really well in the game."

Watford had a number of good chances early on but Salah put Liverpool in front seven minutes before halftime with a superb, right-footed curling finish after a swift counterattack.

Sadio Mane thought he had scored a second with a fine header from Xerdan Shaqiri's cross but it was ruled out by VAR for the most marginal of offsides.

Still Watford created opportunities and Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson made a couple of important saves, while Gerard Deulofeu hit the post from a corner.

Liverpool lost Gini Wijnaldum to injury midway through the second half but Salah sealed the points with a flick of his right boot after a scuffed shot by substitute Divock Origi.

Salah said Watford played far better than their league position would suggest but said the hosts' know-how was key.

"Sometimes the crowd gets a bit panicky," he said.

"But I think now we have a lot of experience in playing out games, we've been together [since] three or four years ago...we've won some games 1-0 so it was OK."

Leicester's winning streak ended at eight after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Norwich.

Teemu Pukki put the visitors in front after 26 minutes but an own goal by Norwich goalkeeper Tim Krul gave Leicester the equaliser.

But neither Jamie Vardy, who had scored in his past eight league games, nor his team-mates could find the winner as second-bottom Norwich held on for a crucial point.

Dan Gosling scored six minutes from time as Bournemouth clinched a surprise 1-0 win at fourth-placed Chelsea.

John Fleck scored both goals as Sheffield United beat Aston Villa 2-0 to go fifth, and Burnley edged Newcastle 1-0 from Chris Wood's header.

West Ham earned three much-needed points as they won 1-0 at Southampton in the day's late match.

Sebastien Haller scored the only goal of the game on 37 minutes to lift West Ham to 15th, four points ahead of Southampton, who remain third-bottom.

Champions Manchester City, now 17 points behind Liverpool in third, are away to Arsenal on Sunday.

Australian Associated Press