Liverpool 4 West Ham United 0: Rampant Torres lifts Liverpool to higher ground

Torres scores his and Liverpool's third goal in their 4-0 drubbing of West Ham at Anfield last night (AP)

The dark clouds of financial uncertainty might still be swirling around Anfield, but there has been no greater reminder of what hard cash can buy this season than Fernando Torres' second successive Anfield hat trick last night and the powerful statement of intent it delivered in the intriguing fight for fourth spot that lies ahead.

Torres, who becomes only the fourth player in Liverpool history to score hat-tricks in consecutive home games, is in the kind of form when his very presence unsettles defenders, but Rafael Benitez preferred to talk after his side had leapfrogged Everton on goal difference about the importance of having "two or three players who can change matches." More importantly, he had settled on who they are – and played them.

Benitez was sorely tempted to fiddle with the side which had won at Bolton on Sunday, with Torres widely tipped for a place on a bench. "He had some problems. I was thinking about resting him. That was the first idea," he admitted. But instead the Spaniard stuck with a settled side and sat back to enjoy the rewards.

Torres, six goals away from becoming the first Anfield player since Robbie Fowler to net 30 in a season, needs no encouragement just now but Ryan Babel does. This was the first time he has started successive games all season and although he did not always capitalise on the vast space West Ham allowed him to run into, there were enough glimpses of what Liverpool's most enigmatic import might deliver, given a run in the side. His first-half cross from amid a cluster of players saw Rob Green palm Steven Gerrard's shot away; a Babel run and pass almost sent Torres through after the break. Gerrard, the architect supreme, also revelled again in his new free role.

Given the listless performance put in by West Ham, it is hard to know how much Everton have to fear in the way Liverpool capitalised on their game in hand. Alan Curbishley spent a good 15 minutes locked in the dressing room with his players after the game. Curbishley has more injury troubles; Matthew Upson limped off with a groin strain.

Apart from Gerrard, who virtually covered the distance the West Ham contingent had travelled, Liverpool were not at their most fluid before the break, with Torres showing most threat. He had already gone close, heading over after Dirk Kuyt nodded back John Arne Riise's cross, when, on seven minutes, Kuyt's cross from the right took a deflection, wrong-footing Anton Ferdinand and allowing Torres to volley home from 12 yards.

It was the combination of Kuyt and Torres which proved telling and, after a Gerrard corner had been cleared, Kuyt hooked the ball back in to the six yard box where Torres was unmarked for a simple header.

Torres was denied his third hat trick of the season by the woodwork five minutes later when Gerrard's dipping cross from the left bounced across the box and the Spaniard's header hit the inside of Green's left-hand post and skidded across the face of goal. Thoughts of tinkering entered Benitez's mind as he considered replacing Torres with Peter Crouch. But he did not and the hat-trick arrived, Torres taking a ball from Riise on 80 minutes, ghosting past Jonathan Spector and slotting home right-footed. Within two minutes Gerrard strode into the West Ham half and unleashed a brutal 25-yard into the top right hand corner for a fourth.

Even Jamie Carragher was lining up for a shot in the end, but Anfield's financial realities were never far away, of course. Half-time brought the most vocal protest yet seen against Tom Hicks and George Gillett, with the words "Get out of our club, you lying bastards, get out of our club" issuing from the Main Stand as well as Anfield Road.

Goals: Torres (8) 1-0; Torres (61) 2-0; Torres (81) 3-0; Gerrard (83) 4-0.

Liverpool (4-4-2): Reina; Riise, Carragher, Skrtel, Arbeloa; Mascherano, Gerrard, Alonso, Kuyt (Benayoun, 63); Torres (Crouch, 82), Babel (Pennant, 76). Substitutes not used: Itandje, Hyypia.

West Ham United (4-1-4-1): Green; Neill, Upson (Spector, 63), Ferdinand, McCartney; Mullins; Ljungberg, Solano (Ashton, 69), Noble, Boa Morte; Cole (Zamora, 69). Substitutes not used: Wright, Pantsil.

Referee: S Bennett (Kent).

Booked: West Ham: Cole, Neill, Noble.

Attendance: 42,954.

Premier League table, page 59