El Niño blows Villa away

FERNANDO TORRES has for so long kept Rafa Benitez’s reputation intact at Anfield and he came riding to the rescue of his countryman last night to prove the Spanish manager is writing cheques his team can cash at Anfield and that he may just be able to deliver on his guarantee of a top four finish this season.

Benitez’s words looked empty and hollow as Liverpool laboured until three minutes into stoppage time against one of the sides trying to usurp them and steal their top four place before Torres wrote his name into the Anfield history books with the fastest half-century of league goals on the red half of Merseyside – in just 72 league games – to lift his team to seventh in the Premier League and just two points adrift of Villa – who appear to be wobbling after successive defeats in three days.

Torres’ landmark came courtesy of the first real mistake Villa made all evening as they strived to end a Liverpool unbeaten run of 11 games on their turf. Stephen Warnock’s lapse in concentration was the crucial error which conceded possession and eventually gave Torres the opportunity to write himself into the record books ahead of Albert Stubbings and Sam Raybould and sentence Villa to their first home defeat since the opening day of the season.