West Bromich 0, Liverpool 5: Steven Gerrard is playing such immaculate football that even the opposition fans want to applaud him. West Bromwich Albion's followers might have spent most of this mismatch bemoaning the shortcomings of their team, but when Gerrard was substituted shortly after the hour there was applause from all sides

Liverpool had been outstanding and Gerrard had reaffirmed his status as the most imperious player in the country.

It was a touching gesture given the fact Albion's fans must be heartily sick of facing Liverpool. In four Premiership encounters the aggregate score is now 16-0 and Rafael Benitez's team could have inflicted even more damage to Albion's goal difference and increasingly brittle self-belief.

Instead, they settled for five, four of which came in the second half, including a contender for goal of the season from John Arne Riise with a searing diagonal drive that billowed the net as if it had been fired from a cannon.

Riise had also scored the opener as well as setting up three more goals and might even have eclipsed Gerrard as the evening's outstanding performer, but Liverpudlians should give careful consideration to the quality of their opponents before getting too carried away.

Albion were abysmal and Bryan Robson, having taken only one point from a possible 21 as their manager, spoke of "poor goals" and "defensive lapses".

The few remaining optimists at the Hawthorns can cite the 1971-72 season when Don Howe's team were five points adrift at Christmas but managed to finish 10 points clear of the relegation places. Yet Albion's fans must be growing wearily accustomed to being reminded that since the Premiership's inception no team has stayed up after being bottom of the table on St Stephen's Day.

The trauma was not as severe as Liverpool's last visit when Russell Hoult picked the ball out his net six times but the imbalance of talent was so conspicuous that the fans were streaming towards the exits with half an hour remaining.

The rout began in the 18th minute when Liverpool broke on the left via Djimi Traore before switching the play to the right, first with Antonio Nunez and then Gerrard. Albion had plenty of defenders in front of Hoult's goal but Gerrard's clipped through-ball was so beautifully weighted it would have been impudent for Riise to do anything but score. The Norwegian had timed his run perfectly and, on his trusted left foot, calmly stroked the ball beyond Hoult.

Liverpool's crisp passing seemed capable of opening up the opposition at any point and matters took another turn for the worse for Albion six minutes before the interval when Gerrard swung over a corner from the right and Cosmin Contra was guilty of a blatant handball to palm away Nunez's header directly in front of Hoult.

Contra had been guilty of losing Riise for the opening goal but this was an even worse mistake, particularly as Hoult would probably have kept the ball out anyway.

The Romanian was kidding nobody when he claimed the ball had struck his shoulder, feigning amazement at the red card, but Hoult spared them further punishment with a penalty save to deny Milan Baros. Even then, Florent Sinama-Pongolle should have scored from the rebound only to lose his footing, and then Baros had a second chance but Darren Purse cleared his shot on the line.

Despite the let-off, there was never any sense that Albion would be spurred into a comeback. "After the sending-off Liverpool had too much for us," said Robson. Six minutes after the break Riise's cross flicked off Albion's right-back Riccardo Scimeca, and Sinama-Pongolle, having started the move, made it 2-0 with a precise volley into the bottom corner.

Robson was entitled to be aggrieved by the lax marking but worse followed four minutes later. Purse had fouled Baros just outside the penalty area and when Dietmar Hamann touched the ball into Gerrard's path the defensive wall seemed to crumble.

Riise's second epitomised Liverpool's soaring confidence and the substitute Luis Garcia completed the scoring from a Riise cross two minutes from time. By then, the stadium was two-thirds empty.

Guardian Service