Mohamed Salah continued his impressive season as he scored twice to help Liverpool come from behind and beat Leicester 2-1 at Anfield on Saturday
With £75m signing , Liverpool's need for defensive improvement was highlighted in just the third minute as they lost possession around their own box and were punished by Jamie Vardy
Salah wasted two good chances to score before half-time, but made amends in the second half as he levelled in the 52nd minute and then netted the winner in the 76th minute
The victory will see Liverpool end 2017 in fourth position in the Premier League, while Salah has now scored 17 league goals - one fewer than leading scorer Harry Kane - and his 23 in all competitions equals Roger Hunt's club record for goals scored before the end of the year
Leicester, meanwhile, have now not won in five matches, despite taking an early lead at Anfield when Joel Matip's pass out of defence was cut out and Vicente Iborra played through for Mahrez to tee up Vardy for a tap-in from eight yards
Salah spurned two good opportunities to reply as he placed a shot wide from inside the box and then missed the target after racing clear down the right side
Liverpool continued to press and probe but without any reward until the second half
Salah eventually levelled for the hosts in the 52nd minute when he collected Sadio Mane's backheel and controlled well before finishing down the middle of the goal
Liverpool continued to look the more threatening side and Salah went close again as he lobbed an effort over the bar
Leicester's best moments came from Christian Fuchs' long throws, but, after one resulted in Wilfried Ndidi firing just wide from the edge of the box, Salah completed the turnaround when he spun away from Harry Maguire and shot past Schmeichel
"Our reaction to going 1-0 down was the best reaction we have showed, it was a big step and the mentality was fantastic today
 The crowd were fantastic and helped us a lot
 It can happen at Anfield that people are not that patient but today they saw that the team tried everything so it was one of the best atmospheres we have had so far, and we needed it
 This game was pretty much perfect apart from the situation around the first goal
" "It's a big disappointment as a squad because they gave their best
 We had a fantastic start to the game with the goal and we tried to keep this result and perhaps to score again
 Liverpool pushed and tried to come back into the game but it was a good opportunity for us to get a result and it's a big disappointment because we had the feeling to go back with a good result
"It looked like it was going to be a rare off day for Salah after he twice failed to hit the target from good positions in the first half
However, he responded well after the break to secure victory for Liverpool
 He showed excellent close control for the first goal and turned away well from Maguire for the second
The double brings the curtain down on a remarkable second half of 2017 for the 25-year-old
Liverpool next travel to Burnley on Monday before hosting Merseyside rivals Everton in the third round of the FA Cup on Friday
 Leicester host Huddersfield on New Year's Day and then go to Fleetwood Town in the FA Cup on Saturday
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