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| Steven Gerrard
seals the win |
Liverpool 3 - 0 Sunderland
A SECOND-HALF treble earned Liverpool their first Premier League win since Boxing Day and eased the pressure on beleaguered manager Rafael Benitez.
Peter Crouch, Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard netted after the break against lowly Sunderland to end a five-game run without a top-flight victory for the Anfield outfit.
Crouch’s strike - his fourth in his last five games - broke Sunderland’s resistance in the 57th minute, with Torres adding his 18th goal of the season 12 minutes later.
Gerrard sealed the win with an 89th-minute penalty after Jermaine Pennant was adjudged to have been upended by Nyron Nosworthy.
This win moves Liverpool to within a point of neighbours Everton in the race for fourth place and the final Champions League qualification berth, and retain a game in hand.
Benitez made five changes from the team that lost at West Ham United in midweek, Martin Skrtel handed his first Premier League start with Jamie Carragher moving across to right-back.
That was about the highlight of a truly miserable first half in which a pedestrian Liverpool were incapable of breaking down a Sunderland team happy to play for a point.
Javier Mascherano struck an ambitious 35-yard effort over and Sunderland goalkeeper Craig Gordon clutched a Torres header from Jermaine Pennant’s cross, but that was the sum total of Liverpool’s laboured probing.
Meetings between these sides have been historically low-scoring in recent times, and the opening 45 minutes suggested there would be no change on this occasion.
Something finally happened on 57 minutes - and, gratefully for the beleaguered Benitez, it was a Liverpool goal.
The crowd groaned as Crouch inadvertently got in the way of a Gerrard piledriver, but those jeers turned to cheers seconds later when, after the ball broke to the right flank, Carragher crossed to the far post where Crouch rose above Johnny Evans to head past Sunderland goalkeeper Craig Gordon.
It sparked Liverpool into life. Torres forced a decent save from Gordon with a fierce shot, and the keeper did even better to repel an acrobatic Crouch volley, Gerrard’s follow-up deflected wide off Evans.
Crouch then saw a header cleared off the line by Phil Bardsley from a Gerrard corner before Liverpool doubled their lead on 69 minutes.
Headers from Mascherano and then Crouch sent Torres clear, and the Spaniard raced away from Bardsley, nodded forward and dispatched emphatically beyond Gordon.
Sunderland had a decent claim for a penalty waved away by referee Rob Styles when a Carragher hand blocked Daryl Murphy’s shot, but Gerrard’s late penalty ended any hope of a comeback for Roy Keane’s men.
"I want to say thank you to the supporters, when we needed them they were behind the team.
"Today we knew it could be a tough game so we needed to keep going. Our supporters were waiting and we started the second half well. They were behind us and it was a massive difference.
"As soon as we scored the first goal the game was open. When you have your confidence low it is important to win, so there are a lot of positive things today."
"We felt they were penalties. But I didn't feel we were going to get those decisions today.
"I don't want it to sound like sour grapes but on another day I think they might been given our way.
"How we are going to do this season will depend on our home form. Anything we got today would have been a big bonus."
Liverpool: Reina, Carragher, Hyypia, Skrtel, Aurelio (Finnan 46), Pennant, Gerrard, Mascherano, Lucas (Benayoun 61), Crouch (Kuyt 83), Torres. Subs Not Used: Itandje, Babel.
Booked: Finnan.
Goals: Crouch 57, Torres 69, Gerrard 89 pen.
Sunderland: Gordon, Bardsley, Nosworthy, Evans, Collins, Chopra (Waghorn 83), Whitehead, Miller, Richardson (Prica 7), Murphy, Jones, Prica (O'Donovan 55). Subs Not Used: Fulop, McShane.
Booked: Miller, Gordon.
Att: 43,244
Ref: Rob Styles (Hampshire).