Yet once Liverpool doubled their advantage, Jurgen Klopp's men ran riot to secure their biggest ever Premier League win and record an away top-flight win by a margin of seven goals for the first time in their history.

"We took our chances, which is always important and dominated the game for large periods," Henderson told BT Sport.

"I still thought we could do [better], we were a little bit sloppy at times, but overall I think we've got to say we're delighted with the performance and the result because we know how difficult it is to come here.

"They are a good team, they make it difficult, so to finish this week off with a win after midweek is important and we managed to do that."

Liverpool returned to the summit on Wednesday with a 2-1 victory over previous leaders Tottenham and success in London on Saturday meant for the third year in a row they are the side to beat at Christmas.

With West Brom set to visit Anfield on Sunday and a trip to Newcastle coming up three days later, Henderson says it is vital they continue to remain consistent.

He added: "It's a big scoreline but we look at the overall performance. I thought midweek we were very good and again we were good (at Crystal Palace).

"We've just got to keep the momentum going, keep focused, keep working hard and keep going. Christmas is a difficult period for everyone so we just need to keep going and keep picking up the wins."

For Crystal Palace, they were left to reflect on a bitterly disappointing day with defender Gary Cahill also appearing to suffer a reoccurrence of the hamstring injury which sidelined him for a long period earlier this year.

Despite trailing by three goals at the break, the Eagles had proved more than a match for the champions and were perhaps unlucky to be behind.

In the end the quality of Liverpool in the final third proved the difference with Klopp's team able to score from almost all of their efforts on target.

"They had eight shots and scored seven goals, they're a very dangerous team from the counter-attack and they punished every mistake," Palace captain Luka Milivojevic told the official club website.

"I think we have a lot of experience in the group. It's very hard to speak after this defeat but that's football – they conceded seven against [Aston] Villa, so that's the level of the Premier League.

"We'll go to Aston Villa (on Boxing Day) and try to turn around the vibe and get some points. That's football today – it's tough but you can't do more than that."