Liverpool - 3 Portsmouth - 0 Harry Redknapp backed the winner in the Champion Chase at Cheltenham yesterday, though that was as far as his luck held. Where Azertyuiop romped home, his Portsmouth side were as good as shot in the paddock here, gunned down by a Liverpool side intent upon salvaging pride.
Twice already this season, Gerard Houllier's side had stumbled miserably against these opponents, while the FA Cup stalemate in this arena should be counted a third failure. This, then, was fourth time lucky but it was also the riotous victory, laced with goals from Michael Owen, which the Kop has long craved. The world will look better from fifth place today.
Redknapp had said beforehand that "Michael Owen will score against someone sooner or later," which was hardly original as prophecies go. He could have done with it being later.
The England striker had been first to return to the dressing rooms after the pre-match warm-up, as if champing at the bit to get the game started. One early and eager sprint at the centre of Portsmouth's rearguard, ending in a skimming shot, set the tone but he had the goal he has craved throughout a depressingly barren run before the half-hour.
Shaka Hislop had done well to turn that initial effort aside but he was powerless moments later. Owen fed the galloping Jamie Carragher down the right and the full-back's cross was cleverly dummied by Emile Heskey, confusing Portsmouth's centre-halves. Liverpool's leading scorer gathered and calmly speared his 13th goal of the season, but only his fourth in 15 games, into the corner.
Barring miracles at Fratton Park, Portsmouth's away form is likely to condemn them in May to a swift return from whence they came. This was their 15th league trip of the season, none of which has yielded a win, and they toiled miserably. Their FA Cup draw here had been achieved with some fortune after an early concession, but Owen's goal last night had swollen Liverpool's haul to two and with it the home side breathed easier.
The majesty of the opener had done much to inflate home hopes. Harry Kewell's corner had been over-hit but Owen gathered on the left and crossed optimistically to the edge of the area. There loitered Dietmar Hamann, his hammer of a right foot cocked, to batter a blistering volley beyond the static Hislop.
The German is always liable to provide the spectacular and this understandably demoralised Portsmouth. By the interval they might have been buried. John-Arne Riise and Kewell had been denied from improbable angles and Igor Biscan's thumping header from Danny Murphy's free-kick required a desperate save.
Pompey had mustered little in response, the Bulgarian Svetoslav Todorov off the pace on his first appearance of the season after knee surgery and withdrawn at the break, and Lomana Lua-Lua too unpredictable for his own good or his team's.
Dejan Stefanovic's bludgeoned free-kick on to the bar offered hope though not reward; Lua-Lua's miskick in front of goal was the second wake-up call Liverpool badly needed. Where they might have dithered previously, this time they responded. Gerrard's whipped corner was too well directed for Portsmouth to cope and Owen, pealing away, obligingly flicked a header into the corner. That buoyed what was appreciably the Merseysiders' smallest league gate of the season and Owen's clever pass inside for Murphy, who belted the ball against the post, gave further grounds for encouragement for Liverpool.
Heskey had repeated the trick against the woodwork before the end, a header from Kewell's centre, but Pompey had long since become pedestrian. Now entrenched in the bottom three, they can feel bitter reality biting on the south coast.
LIVERPOOL: Dudek, Carragher, Biscan, Hyypia, Riise, Murphy, Hamann, Gerrard (Cheyrou 74), Kewell (Diouf 80), Owen, Heskey. Subs Not Used: Henchoz, Baros, Luzi Bernardi. Goals: Hamann 6, Owen 28, 58.
PORTSMOUTH: Hislop, Stefanovic, Primus, De Zeeuw, Curtis, Smertin (Stone 45), Faye, Hughes, LuaLua, Todorov (Taylor 46), Mornar. Subs Not Used: Wapenaar, Sheringham, Pasanen. Booked: Stefanovic.
Referee: B Knight (Kent).
