Imperious Torres fires Liverpool back into fourth place
Torres has been in great scoring form recently
Also In The News
|
Vladimir Putin's nominated successor Dmitry Medvedev is set for victory in Russia's presidential election, early results suggest. |  |
Wednesday, 05, Mar 2008 10:47
Fernando Torres scored his second hat-trick in three games to help Liverpool move back into fourth place in the Premier League.
The Reds comfortably defeated West Ham 4-0 at Anfield with captain Steven Gerrard scoring the other goal for the home side.
Despite Torres' eye-catching performance the main headlines were created by Liverpool's fans who voiced the displeasure with the team's American owners once more.
This was particularly clear at half time when they chanted for Dubai-based investment firm DIC to replace Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
On the field Torres was once again in stunning form as he posed questions to the Hammers defence all night.
The Spaniard linked up well with fellow striker Dirk Kuyt and the Dutchman created his first goal. Kuyt crossed from the left-hand side and Torres did well to place his shot into the corner of the goal.
West Ham began to work their way intro the match but only had a Luis Boa Morte's effort to show for their endeavours in the first 45 minutes while Liverpool still looked dangerous with Gerrard and Martin Skrtel going close.
After the break Torres rose unmarked in the box to make it 2-0 before narrowly missing out on his hat-trick when his diving header hit the post.
But he did not have to wait long to get his third, taking on Lucas Neill before firing home from a tight angle.
Gerrard completed the scoring with a thunderous strike from outside the box that was the goal of the evening, but Torres was the one who claimed the match ball.
Liverpool will hope to extend their winning run in the league to four games when they take on struggling Newcastle United on Saturday.