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When the final whistle blew at Anfield on Saturday, there were reasons to be cheerful all around.
However, for Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, the 2-0 Premier League victory over Aston Villa held particular significance for two players. Liverpool and the team's head coach, Arne Slot, entered Saturday's match under immense pressure following a streak of six losses in their last seven matches across all competitions - and with an unwelcome club record looming ominously.
Had the Reds succumbed to a high-flying Villa team, it would have marked their fifth consecutive league defeat for the first time since the 1953-54 season.
Instead, the Reds managed to dodge an early goal scare and were then handed a stroke of luck when Emiliano Martinez inexplicably passed the ball straight to Mohamed Salah, who calmly slotted it into the empty net to notch up his 250th goal for the club.
Liverpool capitalized on this pivotal moment in the second half and, after Ryan Gravenberch doubled the team's lead courtesy of a fortuitous deflection, the Reds began to resemble the side that stormed to Premier League glory in Slot's inaugural season at the helm, with several players showing signs of returning form.
The win eased the strain on Slot and brought joy to captain Virgil van Dijk and star forward Mohamed Salah, a sight that Gerrard noted at full-time and believes will be vital moving forward.
"Most importantly, the two most important players in Liverpool's squad - Van Dijk and Salah - are both back smiling," said the ex-Villa boss on TNT Sports.
"Van Dijk is smiling because of the clean sheet and how the team defended tonight - and the star man, Salah, scored the goal, and he's smiling. Those two are key for this team moving forward. We put it on them before the game that they had to be the ones to step forward, and they've both stepped forward."
Van Dijk's and Salah's Anfield legacies are already cemented in history, but alongside Slot, they faced scrutiny for their displays as the Reds' form plummeted.
The former is conscious of some of the criticism he has been receiving and, after helping his side secure just their third clean sheet of the season, the Dutchman addressed Wayne Rooney's remarks about what he perceived as a shortage of leadership at Liverpool in recent weeks.
Van Dijk said: "Just to come back to this particular player, obviously a legend, a big player of the game who inspired so many, I can say only positive things, but I feel that comment is just, I would say it's a bit of a lazy criticism.
"That's my personal opinion. It's easy to blame the older players, but he knows, obviously, as well as everyone else, we do it together, trying to help each and every one of us to try to get out of this, and, like I said as well, last year, when things go well, you don't hear that at all. It is what it is.
"[Pundits] have to do that job as well, so it is what it is. Like I said, he has an opinion, and we have to deal with it. And there's no hard feelings, by the way. I don't take it personally whatsoever."
Salah also silenced his doubters in emphatic fashion, with his second strike in consecutive matches bringing his seasonal tally to five, before embracing Gerrard following his interview with TNT Sports.
The Egyptian forward commented: "I said at the beginning it is a very tricky season for us, we have a few new players, very good signings, but they need time to adapt to the team, and we lost a few good players as well. We just need time to adapt and know each other's games, and we will be fine."
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