Liverpool proved they were still a fighting force after a 3-0 win over West Ham at Anfield on Saturday.
Reds defender Glen Johnson, who had been out with an ankle injury, opened the scoring in the 18th minute, assisted by Raul Meireles.
After West Ham defender Daniel Gabbidon was caught with a handball after 27 minutes in an effort to get away from Fernando Torres, a penalty was given in which Dirk Kuyt safely put past keeper Robert Green into the back of the net.
A third Liverpool goal came just before the end of the second half after a header from Maxi Rodriguez, after a nice cross from Paul Konchesky.
West Ham finally had a chance when Carlton Cole broke through the Liverpool defence only to put his header over the bar.
The second half showed no extra goals, as Liverpool's pace seemed to slow, but West Ham failed to take advantage of this or show any improvement.
Glen Johnson told BBC after the match, "It is always nice to get off the treatment table and score a goal.
"We started off well and took our chances when they fell to us. I thought we played really well and showed a lot of class.
"I know I did not play at my best today but I got the goal and we won and that is what counts, we will get better throughout the season."
West Ham have now lost seven out of the first 14 games of the season.
Manager Avram Grant said, "Today we played poor. In the last weeks we've played well. We didn't come into the game in the first half, in the second I was happy with the response of the players.
"The players looked like they wanted to succeed in this game, but something's not going well. We didn't play well like we did in the last weeks.
"We take the second-half performance and I'm sure we can win the next game because they are games we can win."
The win sees Liverpool move to 9th place on the Barclays Premier League table with 19 points and West Ham last with only nine points.
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