Liverpool scuffed their way to victory against an impressive West Brom side who looked far from the relegation fodder they’ve often been in recent EPL seasons.

The game turned on two incidents approaching the midway point of the second half.

The Baggies’ Gonzalo Jara had time and space in the Liverpool box after being found by a pinpoint cross from Marc-Antoine Fortune. But his first shot was blocked.

And Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina gratefully pounced on the rebound before his quick throw-out set up a swift counter-attack which ended with Fernando Torres’s clinical right-foot finish from Dirk Kuyt’s cross.

Chances were at a premium until then, especially in a first half where Torres and Fortune had the only threatening shots on target.

Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel came closest to breaking the deadlock before Torres’s strike, flashing a right-foot drive narrowly past the angle of post and crossbar on the hour.

Torres nearly doubled Liverpool’s advantage from Steven Gerrard’s cross. But Baggies’ keeper Scott Carson expertly smothered his close-range effort.

Jara appeared to block another Torres shot with his hand in the penalty area before the Spaniard fell victim to the kick on the shins which saw West Brom’s James Morrison dismissed.