Torres 26, 77     Belhadj 88

                                                                                    Babel 28

                                                                                Aquilani 32     

Liverpool eased past bottom club Portsmouth thanks to three first-half goals in six minutes, which included £22m summer signing Alberto Aquilani’s first for the club.

There was also a rare EPL strike for young Dutchman Ryan Babel, as well as two for an increasingly in-form Fernando Torres.

The only dark note on a bright night for the Reds was Steven Gerrard’s altercation with Portsmouth’s Michael Brown, Gerrard appearing to strike the Pompey midfielder as they tussled for the ball in the second half.

Liverpool were starting to get anxious after a lively start when they were gifted the opening goal.

Pompey keeper Jamie Ashdown, in for the injured David James, saw his clearance charged down by Gerrard and fall to Maxi Rodriguez who set up Torres for a tap-in on 26 minutes.

Babel made it 2-0 two minutes later from a Torres pass. And Torres and Gerrard combined well to allow Aquilani to open his Liverpool account on 32 minutes.

Aquilani turned provider for Torres to drive home goal number four shortly after Gerrard was substituted in the wake of his spat with Brown.

Portsmouth grabbed a deserved consolation two minutes from time when Nadir Belhadj converted Frederic Piquionne’s cutback.