The last time Mohamed Salah appeared at the London Stadium, he was involved in a very public touchline spat with Jurgen Klopp and vowed that "there will be fire" if he spoke publicly about the incident on his departure back to Merseyside.

The late-April flashpoint came towards the end of a term when the team was tiring and during a period where a frustrated Salah was struggling to influence as he would like as he found it difficult to shake off the after effects of a rare hamstring issue that blighted the second half of his year at Anfield.

The fitness concerns, the age and the form all combined to give some misguided souls ammunition to argue that Salah was a fading force whose best years were now firmly in the rearview. There won't be anyone putting their hand up to say that was their take on the situation now and hindsight has been kind to those who refused to count out Liverpool's irrepressible Egyptian superstar.

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This time around, the only pyrotechnics provided by Salah against West Ham came on the pitch as the league leaders strolled to a 5-0 win and he fired in his 20th goal of a season that now sees Liverpool eight points clear at the summit of English football. What looks to be a mouthwatering 2025 to come under Arne Slot has now been set up. It's all quite the contrast.

After being denied by a stunning Alphonse Areola save early on, Salah was not to be kept out again as he steadied himself from Curtis Jones's pass to unerringly find the corner for 3-0 just before the break. That came after Luis Diaz had rattled home the deserved opener and Salah had more than a hand in the second by bamboozling Kostantinos Mavropanos before Cody Gakpo swept home.

It was another spellbinding performance from the player the supporters so affectionately refer to as the 'Egyptian King' and his enduring brilliance remains undimmed. Having overtaken the great Billy Liddell to move up to fourth in the all-time scoring charts at Anfield in the 6-3 rout of Tottenham last week, victories over Leicester and now West Ham have given the No.11 two more for his account to edge ever closer to Gordon Hodgson in third.

Salah is now just 10 away and after scoring 20 for an eighth straight campaign, you would not bet against him moving past Hodgson and making third his own before it's all said and done this year.

How much further he goes after that depends on what happens over that lingering contract issue. Alongside Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, it's the one problem that has hung over Liverpool like the Sword of Damocles and with New Year's Day upon us on Wednesday, all three can speaks to clubs outside of England about moving as a free agent in the summer of 2025.

That should be enough to send shivers down the spines of sporting director Richard Hughes, CEO of football Michael Edwards and the rest of Fenway Sports Group. If the Boston-based organisation are fearful of a sharp decline in output from Salah, who will be 33 in June, then he is showing every single game right now that their concerns are misplaced.

Alexander-Arnold smashed in a fourth from about 25 yards out shortly after the restart, via a Max Kilman deflection, to offer a timely reminder of his own considerable talent. The Reds defender has supposedly told Real Madrid he is leaving Liverpool, if Spanish publication Marca is to be believed, but Anfield sources are adamant that no such communication has taken place.

The vice-captain's 'talking' motion with his hands as he celebrated was instructive to that for self-appointed body language experts, given recent speculation and the hope is still that an agreement can be reached. Keeping all three will only strengthen the push for the game's major honours from next season onwards.

There will come a time, one way another, when supporters will have to make a judgement on the West Derby-born Alexander-Arnold's next career decision, but it doesn't need to be made now; not midway through an unrelenting chase for league title No.20. The 'Scouser in our team' chant that emerged from the away end late on as he took a corner suggested the match-going supporters are still firmly behind him, however much the online 'debate' rages.

The introduction of Diogo Jota and Wataru Endo shortly before the hour mark gave the former the chance for some much-needed Premier League minutes, while allowing an overworked Ryan Gravenberch the opportunity to rest up, with Manchester United to come next. Jota looked sharp and was denied a fifth for the Reds by a good stop from Areola, whose performance deserved better than to concede five.

The only real concern was Joe Gomez limping out of the first half for Jarell Quansah. With Ibrahima Konate still not cleared for a comeback, the lack of available centre-backs now for the Reds is a real concern for Slot. Konate might have to be fast-tracked into the squad once more just for emergency coverage.

It was left to Salah, unsurprisingly, to have the final word. The forward has become the Reds' creator-in-chief as well as No.1 marksman this term and he saved his best so far for Jota late on. Picking up a loose ball in midfield, he jinked his way down the field past more than a handful of West Ham players, who were all drawn to the ball to leave Jota free to side-foot home the fifth.

It was simply sublime, much like everything that had gone before it and the only decision left to make should be how many tens of thousands FSG tag on to the new contract. Has he ever been better than this?

“We are far away from that, but I don't want to put something in the media and people start saying stuff, but nothing move on,” Salah said on his contract impasse at full time. It’s maybe too late for that.

The ultra-cautious model imposed upon the club has to relent here before Salah leaves and continues performing at this sort of level for either a Premier League or Champions League rival. Agent Ramy Abbas will not be short of offers from all over the world, that much is certain.

How far are Liverpool prepared to go in this game of brinksmanship? We’re about to find out.