Liverpool 3 Cardiff City 1: Luis Suarez admits his delight with £200,000-a-week contract after he bags a brace to send Reds top

The striker also claims it is too early to think about winning the Premier League despite his purple patch firing Liverpool above Arsenal

Luis Suarez has admitted his delight with his new contract although he has refused to get carried away with Liverpool's good form of late (GETTY IMAGES)

Luis Suarez was pleased to celebrate his new contract with another man-of-the-match performance as Liverpool beat Cardiff 3-1.

Suarez scored twice and set up Raheem Sterling for the other as the Reds were out of sight by half-time.

Jordon Mutch grabbed a consolation for Cardiff, who had arrived at Anfield amid the controversy surrounding their manager Malky Mackay's position.

"I am so happy with the new contract," Suarez told BT Sport.

"Even so I was focused for the game today. We played very well in the first half and in the second half not as well. But most important was that we won."

Liverpool will head into Christmas at the top of the table if Arsenal fail to win against Chelsea on Monday night, but Suarez refused to speculate whether the Reds could embark on a title push in the new year.

"It is too early to say that," said Suarez, whose new deal was announced on Friday.

"We work every week for the next game. We are happy with this game. When we are at home we are strong."

Boss Brendan Rodgers was full of praise for his striker as he extended his lead at the top of the Premier League goalscorers chart.

"He's doing his job to a really high level," Rodgers said.

"He's doing it consistently, week-in, week-out.

"For me he's this in-built brain for football. His view of game is different to others and he has an anticipation of where ball is going to drop."

After hammering Tottenham 5-0 away last weekend, Rodgers was again left enthused by his team's all-round display.

"The team was outstanding today," he said.

"In the first half some of our football was exceptional.

"The chances that we are creating we are putting away. We could have scored five in the first half."

Rodgers played down title talk, though, adding: "We'll let everyone speak about it themselves.

"Since January we've been exceptional. People will talk us up and people will talk us down - it is irrelevant to us."

PA