Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says victory over Aston Villa was their best performance for some time.

The Reds cruised to a 3-0 win at Anfield on Sunday.

Klopp said: "It was a top game, the best for a while, a long time. I don't know the last time we were that convincing, and we had a few good games obviously now – especially the end of last season and these kinds of things. That was really good. And you're right, in both departments, offensively like defensively. You cannot do one step less against this Aston Villa team, then you struggle immediately.

"But the early goal might have helped, I'm not sure, we don't know how the game would have looked without scoring, but we looked really, really good. The mix in possession between control and direction was close to perfect. That's how it felt. We could use the formation today properly, everybody wanted the ball or protected or showed or offered. So, it was a top game, cannot say differently.

"I don't know when I can say that the next time, but for today it was as good as could be, because the opponent is extremely strong and we didn't let that happen today. That's a massive compliment to my boys."

On goalscorer Dominik Szoboszlai, he added: "A machine, huh? That's now all four games. Pretty impressive, absolutely impressive. Tactically smart, absolutely ready for the dirty part of the game – meaning hard work where it's not the fancy stuff where they are shooting, crossing, running forward, stuff like this. No, he is really closing down opponents. So important how Curt and Dom defended the half-spaces next to Darwin, super-important.

"And what a goal! I saw it directly from behind. That was the cleanest strike I saw for a long time. And that was his slightly lesser-good foot. That was, again, a top performance."