Everton 0-2 Liverpool: Fernando Torres breaks goal drought to sink Toffees

For almost an hour he whined like a diva.

Occasionally he hit the deck as if under attack by sniper fire.

But when the moment came to decide this Merseyside derby and confirm that Liverpool truly are Premier League title contenders, Fernando Torres commanded centre stage in grandiose style.

Going into this clash with the old enemy from the other side of Stanley Park, fears had arisen in The Kop and inside Anfield itself that after 33 goals in his first English campaign the club's £23million record signing may have hit the wall.

Wrong, wrong and, but for a hairline decision that robbed him of his hat-trick, wrong again.

Torres had managed just one goal before kick-off and his new £20m partner Robbie Keane was even worse off, Rafa Benitez's supposed dream double act looking anything like one through 14 previous games together. And yesterday, for almost an hour, things didn't look like getting much better for either of them.

And then, almost as if by magic, it all clicked into place.

Keane, having looked a peripheral figure as Everton worked like demons on a containment strategy, got to the byline and cut back a superb chip and there was Torres, striding forward unmarked, to whip home a right-footer.

That wall he'd been supposedly bashing his head against was suddenly demolished, the combination with Keane that had been more fantasy than fact was suddenly a dynamic going concern.

Three minutes after collecting the opener Torres was cementing the victory as Keane again got busy. He took a pass from Kuyt on the edge of the box and flicked it back towards the Dutchman, who was felled by Phil Jagielka. The ball spun towards Torres and if any further evidence was required that his predator instincts were intact it came with his second searing volley, the ball this time flying high rather than low into the net.

As Liverpool boss Benitez stressed: "We saw again how

Fernando can change games although Keane, Gerrard, Kuyt and others did their jobs well."

Everton boss David Moyes quite rightly declared that Torres's finishes had been clinical although he stressed: "For the first goal, especially, our concentration levels were not as they should have been."

Yet defences can concentrate as hard as they like. When Torres gets in the mood, as he finally did after spending the previous 59 minutes flouncing in and out of the game, there are few who can stand up to him.

Moyes's side, in the end, couldn't do it although had Tim Cahill, given a straight red card 10 minutes from time, scored with the game only a few minutes old then it all might have been different. Mikel Arteta's corner flicked off Martin Skrtel and flew straight at the Aussie, who had three times previously hit the net against Liverpool but this time he mis-kicked at the crucial moment.

After that Liverpool took command.

Torres was denied a third because Kuyt was spotted nudging Joleon Lescott and the Dutchman also had a strike disallowed.

Cahill had by now become a frustrated figure after being clumsily fouled by Alvaro Arbeloa and his 80th-minute lunge on Xabi Alonso made him the 10th player in the last 11 derbies to be sent off, while Liverpool recorded their seventh victory in nine visits to Goodison.

Moyes believed Cahill had been hard-done-by, saying: "We will ask the referee to look at it again - I don't think anybody in the ground expected him to be shown a red."

Benitez countered: "Xabi told me it could have been worse - Cahill had lost his head after clashing with Arbeloa."

In too many tight games like this last season, Liverpool lost their heads and their way. No longer, it would seem, even allowing for their disappointing performance against Stoke a week earlier.

More importantly, Benitez and his players are starting to string together victories in the big games, the manager adding: "We are gaining a momentum now. We are playing with balance and confidence.

"It also helps when you have Torres. To score two goals like that in a game like this was massive for us."