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Premier League, Anfield - Liverpool 0 Stoke 0.

Liverpool were held to a goalless draw by Stoke at Anfield in a bruising Premier League encounter.

The Reds have won just two league games at Anfield in 2012 and the reasons were there for all to see, with a distinct lack of cutting edge despite dominating possession, especially in the second half.

Stoke made things difficult with some heavy challenges and barely emerged from their half in the second period, but Liverpool were unable to find the form in front of goal they displayed against Norwich last weekend.

Liverpool made eight changes from the midweek Europa League defeat to Udinese, reverting to the side that won 5-2 at Carrow Road with the likes of Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez coming back in.

Stoke also kept faith with the 11 men who won in the Premier League a week ago in their 2-0 home victory over Swansea.

The match was fraught from the off, with Stoke applying pressure to the Reds' passing game high up the pitch.

As early as the third minute a loose back pass from Nuri Sahin put former Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam in, with Pepe Reina making a sharp save with his legs.

Moments later Suarez was livid after Stoke centre-half Robert Huth clearly stamped on him following an aerial challenge but escaped without punishment. He exacted revenge shortly afterwards, also avoiding a booking despite clumping into the German late.

Liverpool were again exposed on 20 minutes when a risky pass out from Reina allowed Michael Kightly to lift a chip over him, but the agile Spain keeper flew back to tip over.

Time and again Brendan Rodgers's men insisted on playing the ball out from the back, but they were continually cut short by late challenges from an over-zealous Stoke.

Huth somehow avoided a booking again after a rugby-style tackle on Suarez but eventually followed Kightly into the referee's notebook for upending the Uruguayan striker as he raced away on the counter.

Gerrard saw a 'Hollywood' strike tipped wide of the near post by Asmir Begovic while Daniel Agger almost poked home a Suso dink into the box. That was as good as it got for the Reds in the first half, while Suarez was accused of kicking out after Begovic got to the ball first moments before the whistle. He seemed to be going for the ball.

The pressure on the Stoke goal at the Kop end was relentless from the restart. A superb sliding challenge from Ryan Shawcross denied a Gerrard pull-back after he exchanged passes with Suarez to attack the byline.

Glen Johnson, operating at left-back, was picked out by a pinpoint Gerrard diagonal ball but shot over the bar with the goal at his mercy, then Begovic slid out to kick clear another low ball into the danger area from deep from the home skipper.

Suarez produced the most exciting moment of the match on the hour mark as he accelerated from halfway and panicked several Stoke defenders with his mazy dribbling before slicing wide of the near post from inside the box.

After teenager Raheem Sterling placed a side-footed finish against the outside of the post when it was begging to be cracked across goal, Suarez also fired against the outside of the post - but the home fans never seemed convinced that their men would produce the goal they craved.

And when Martin Skrtel could only flick a Gerrard free kick across goal with Shawcross grounded, the goalless draw was all but confirmed.

Shawcross, former Liverpool midfielder Adam, Jonathan Walters and Dean Whitehead would all also be shown yellow cards before the end in a solid - if not particularly admirable - rearguard effort from Tony Pulis's men.

Meanwhile Suarez did not cover himself in glory with a pathetic dive in the box after minimal contact from Marc Wilson.

Liverpool are 14th in the table, two places below Stoke.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Ryan Shawcross (Stoke City) – A giant throughout and despite the booking didn't resort to some of the more unsavoury tactics employed by Stoke.

Premier League, Carrow Road - Norwich 2 (Morison 61, Holt 87 ) Liverpool 5 (Suarez 2, 38, 57, Sahin 47, Gerrard 68).

Luis Suarez scored a classy hat-trick to help Liverpool complete their first Premier League win of the season with a 5-2 drubbing of a mediocre Norwich at Carrow Road.

Nuri Sahin - fresh from his double in the 2-1 League Cup win at West Bromwich Albion - and Steven Gerrard netted the other Liverpool goals in the second period with Steve Morison and substitute Grant Holt responding for the home side, who were probably lucky to get out of the afternoon losing by only three goals.

Suarez also scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 win for Liverpool at Norwich in April. Incidentally, it was also the last time they enjoyed a clean sheet.

Norwich have now won just one of their past 11 Premier League matches, and have only three points from their opening six games of the season.

Suso, Raheem Sterling and Andre Wisdom all started for Liverpool at Carrow Road, and all coped handsomely with the occasion.

There was just over a minute on the clock when Brendan Rodgers's side moved ahead as Suarez collected a loose ball to fire a low shot beyond the despairing dive of John Ruddy in the Norwich goal.

Jose Reina was forced to keep out an effort from Simeon Jackson with the aid of a post, but Norwich's meaningful surges forward would be few and far between as Liverpool revelled in possession.

The Uruguayan forward Suarez should have had a penalty when he was clearly bundled to the deck from behind by Leon Barnett on 23 minutes, but referee Mike Jones astonishingly decided otherwise.

It was a poor decision by Jones, but not as peculiar as that of home central defender Michael Turner seven minutes before the break.

Turner needlessly lost possession on the edge of his box. Suarez turned him inside out before sticking the ball into the corner of the net with the outside of his right foot.

Liverpool could and probably should have had more goals in the first half with Suarez playing provider with a deft ball that saw Steven Gerrard's header clawed out by Ruddy.

Suarez was also sent speeding clear by Daniel Agger moments before his second, but he planted the ball wide when he looked likelier to find the net.

Norwich almost found themselves within a goal of the visitors on 46 minutes when Robert Snodgrass saw the ball fly off him and over from Andrew Surman's shot, but there was never any real threat of a recovery.

Suarez played in Sahin for the third goal from close range on 47 minutes before he bent the ball past Ruddy from 22 yards for his third and Liverpool's fourth on 57 minutes.

Norwich had netted their first of the afternoon to trail 4-1 on 61 minutes when Jose Reina failed to halt a Russell Martin effort before Morison forced home the rebound.

Gerrard saw an effort deflect off the hapless Barnett and fly beyond the wrong-footed Ruddy on 68 minutes for a 5-1 lead after some nice play by Sterling.

Holt - who had replaced Jackson at half-time - completed the scoring for the day when he benefited from some slipshod defending by Martin Skrtel before bounding up the park to sweep the ball low into the corner of a net on 87 minutes, but a fair smattering of Norwich fans had already seen enough.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Luis Suarez (Liverpool) - Simply a joy to watch with his movement too much for Norwich's defence. Scored three, set up another and should have had a penalty. Probably wishes he could play at Carrow Road every week.

Premier League, Stadium of Light - Sunderland 1 (Fletcher, 29) Liverpool 1 (Suarez, 71).

Liverpool remain without a win after four games of the Premier League season despite dominating in a 1-1 draw at Sunderland's Stadium of Light.

Brendan Rodgers's side rescued a point from the evening courtesy of Luis Suarez's composed finish on 71 minutes, but will be scratching their heads wondering how they did not manage to depart with the win.

Sunderland somehow remain unbeaten in the Premier League this term courtesy of Steven Fletcher's third goal in two starts for the home side since his £14 million transfer from Wolverhampton Wanderers during the transfer window.

The last time Liverpool failed to win any of their first four league matches in a top flight season was in 1911-12.

Sunderland have not won in their last 11 Premier League matches, equalling Martin O’Neill’s longest run as manager in the division without a victory, which was set between November 2006 and January 2007 when he was at Aston Villa.

They will be more than content with this point after spending most of it hemmed in deep in their own half.

The home side were without Adam Johnson due to a thigh injury while Liverpool made two changes as Martin Kelly and Jonjo Shelvey replaced Jose Enrique and Nuri Sahin.

In a week blighted by the horrendous Hillsborough revelations, Liverpool responded to the emotion of the occasion by producing an excellent performance in the circumstances that must have pleased their travelling support with Raheem Sterling very much to the fore.

Sunderland moved ahead with their only real attack of meaning in the first period as Fletcher swooped ahead of Martin Skrtel on 29 minutes to slip the ball home from Craig Gardner's ball across the face of goal.

Sterling played provider for Liverpool to equalise with a delicate cross into the area. The ball broke kindly off home substitute Titus Bramble for Suarez, who had been booked in the first period for diving to try to win a penalty, to finish with Simon Mignolet well beaten.

Mignolet was a busy figure in the home goal throughout the night as he made saves from Shevley and Fabio Borini while Glen Johnson hit the bar and Steven Gerrard a post before Suarez eventually found his range to restore parity.

Liverpool will aim for their first win of the Premier League season when they host Manchester United at Anfield a week on Sunday.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) – A real find for Liverpool and was a constant menace as Liverpool spent large swathes of the match camped in the home half.

Liverpool paid for two critical defensive errors as a fine team performance was ruined and three points turned into one in a 2-2 home draw against Manchester City in the Premier League.

Having lost 3-0 to West Brom in their opening fixture, this was undoubtedly the performance Brendan Rodgers required from his Liverpool side and their superior passing and quality was rewarded as they twice took the lead through a Martin Skrtel header and a wonderful free kick from Luis Suarez.

However, a combination of a flapping Pepe Reina and a muddled Martin Kelly allowed Yaya Toure to equalise initially on 63 minutes, before Skrtel was guilty of a truly dreadful mistake as his awful back-pass allowed Carlos Tevez to round Reina and score with 10 minutes remaining.

Dominating a match against the reigning champions was clear progress for a side that prior to today had picked up just 18 points in 20 Premier League games in 2012, but it could and should have been an even more auspicious occasion for Rodgers in what was his first home league game as Liverpool manager.

Having carefully restored the old This Is Anfield sign and reintroduced red nets to the famous stadium, Rodgers has been at pains to put across the message that he is giving this grand old club a new lick of paint. That extended to the playing staff too with the average age of Liverpool's team dropping to 24 years and 364 days - the youngest starting XI for the club since 2003.

That was in large part due to the fact that Liverpool gave a Premier League debut to 17-year-old Raheem Sterling and the forward, playing down the left, made an eye-catching contribution in the early stages. After 18 minutes, Sterling cut onto his right and delivered a wickedly dipping cross to find Fabio Borini charging towards the near post. However, having beaten Aleksandar Kolarov to the ball, the Italian striker turned his shot wide.

By this point Liverpool had already suffered the loss of Lucas Leiva - who spent so much of last season sidelined with a knee injury - to a muscular problem that forced his withdrawal after only five minutes, but the setback appeared to do little to disrupt their approach as they adopted a commendably high tempo and went in hunt of a goal from the off, pressing City hard.

Suarez was sparky enough, though the Uruguayan was a touch wasteful in the final third again, and alongside the immaculate Joe Allen, who failed to misplace a single pass in the entire first half, captain Steven Gerrard was influential too, threatening twice with early chances that he dragged wide of the post.

City by contrast seemed unbalanced with both Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli in attack and David Silva relegated to the bench, though they almost took the lead after 20 minutes when Tevez darted onto a through-ball from Samir Nasri, rounded Jose Reina and saw his shot from a tight angle bounce along the goal line and strike the far post.

But with the reigning champions only a intermittent threat, Liverpool secured the goal their efforts merited after 34 minutes. A dangerous cross from Gerrard forced a corner, and nearly an own goal, from Kompany, before the Liverpool captain delivered the set-piece from the right himself. Skrtel thundered into the box and leapt in front of Kolarov and Pablo Zabaleta to hammer his header past Joe Hart for a half-time lead.

With Allen producing a faultless display of passing, this was the kind of performance the appointment of Rodgers from Swansea had promised, even if this new style remains firmly in its infancy on Merseyside.

Liverpool should have extended their advantage after 50 minutes when Yaya Toure gave possession away with a sloppy cross-field pass. Borini took possession and slipped a pass inside to Suarez as his team-mate arrived on the edge of the box. Suarez also opted for finesse but failed to get the correct contact on the ball to beat Hart.

City looked strangely listless, a concern in the context of a rather unconvincing 3-2 win at home to Southampton in their opening game of the season, and it required a tactical switch from Mancini to re-establish themselves as a force in the game as he brought on Jack Rodwell for Samir Nasri and pushed Yaya Toure up the pitch. It is a ploy he has used regularly before, and brought immediate rewards.

On 63 minutes, Tevez muscled his way past Sterling on the City right and flung in a rather hopeful cross. However, Reina came and flapped at the ball in the air, meaning Martin Kelly was unprepared to deal with it when he came his way. The defender's attempted clearance was still rather slapstick though and the ball fell to Yaya Toure, who slotted it home from close range.

But it was an undeserved equaliser for a City side uncomfortable in a 3-5-2 formation and horribly sloppy in possession, and Liverpool deservedly stole the lead back inside three minutes. Rodwell fouled Gerrard 25 yards from goal and Suarez dispatched a perfectly judged free kick that curled around the outside of the wall and snuck inside the near post.

Liverpool enjoyed their renewed ascendancy and should have been afforded the chance to take a two-goal lead on 73 minutes when Kolarov brought down Glen Johnson with a clumsy challenge from behind, only to be mystifyingly let off the hook. Liverpool were bemused, and they were made to pay.

Having just cleared superbly from the centre of his own box, Skrtel ruined a fantastic performance with a horrendous lapse of judgement on 80 minutes. After checking back on the left wing, he tried to play a back pass to Reina but instead rolled the ball into the path of Tevez, who did very well to hold his composure, round Reina and tap the ball home.

Liverpool threw on Andy Carroll in an attempted to secure the win they deserved and the striker did come close when seeing a late header cleared off the line by Rodwell. Shelvey went close too with a lovely shot from range but Rodgers was to be denied a win that would have firmly shaken off the blues of an opening defeat at West Brom.

Fulham brought 10-man Liverpool’s eight-game undefeated streak in the league to an end with a 1-0 victory in an exciting Monday night encounter at Craven Cottage. 

Clint Dempsey tucked home the only goal of the game five minutes from time after Pepe Reina had spilled a distance effort from home captain and former Liverpool player Danny Murphy. 

Kenny Dalgish’s men hit the post once in each half thanks to quality efforts from Jordan Henderson and substitute Stewart Downing, but lost midfielder Jay Spearing 18 minutes from time for a two-footed lunge on Moussa Dembele

The dismissal sparked a late surge from the Whites, with Dempsey hitting the woodwork himself in the 80th minute before finally clinching a win for Martin Jol’s side which pulls them further away from the relegation zone. 

The two sides contested one of the choice games of last season in this very fixture back in May, and going down to a 5-2 home defeat will have played on the minds of the West Londoners and they looked determined to make amends from the outset. 

Indeed, the first real chance of the game came the hosts’ way on six minutes when Bryan Ruiz’s through pass from the left put Dembele one-on-one with Reina. 

But the goalkeeper timed his rush off the goal line perfectly and made himself big enough to block the Belgian’s strike, with Stephen Kelly closing down a Charlie Adam effort as Liverpool countered. 

Two minutes later, it was the turn of Reina’s opposite number Mark Schwarzer to pull off a similar block to deny Andy Carroll from converting Luis Suarez’s low cross. 

Dembele tested Reina again on 17, despite protests of a handball as he controlled before turning and unleashing a killer low 20-yarder to force a parry. 

Jordan Henderson’s exquisite chipped finish off the outside of his boot on 28 minutes at the end of a dazzling dribble would have made many a goal of the month competition had it not come back off the far post with Schwarzer left stranded. 

As the tempo remained breakneck, both sides looked as likely as the other to draw first blood and if it were
not for a vital sliding block by Brede Hangeland, Carroll would have done just that from another fine Suarez centre. 

Though the early stages of the second period could not hold a candle to the frenetic action of the first, the temperature went back up around the hour mark with counter after counter seeing Bobby Zamora and Craig Bellamy have shots closed down. 

Suarez’s run to try and beat the offside trap on 66 was every bit as delightful as the chipped assist into the danger zone he met from the foot of Jose Enrique, only for the assistant referee to decide he had indeed strayed beyond Hangeland just before putting the ball in the Fulham net. 

Six minutes later and the complexity of the game change, as despite Spearing winning the ball with his challenge on Dembele, his other leg came in dangerously behind the first causing him to virtually drop-kick the legs out from underneath the striker. 

Referee Kevin Friend did not hesitate to reach for his red card, and the home side were presented with a golden opportunity to search for three points against their fancied opponents. 

The best example of this came 10 minutes from time when Ruiz capped some majestic Whites passing with a short ball into the box on which Dempsey turned, faked Johnson into a red-faced stumble and chipped a wonderful finish onto the crossbar. 

After Dembele had fired at Reina as well as wide within a matter of minutes, it was Downing’s turn to find the woodwork after breaking loose from a crowd of three defenders to curl onto the near post.

But 60 seconds later, a breakaway from Fulham led to a corner which found its way back to taker Murphy, who cut inside his man and saw his low drive atypically spilled by Reina. 

Dempsey, a handful all game, was first to the loose ball and the struggling Londoners had the lead. 

And despite late substitutions and an injury to Murphy dragging three minutes of added time out to six, Fulham cleared a late barrage of crosses into their box – and almost added some gloss to the scoreline through Andy Johnson – to hold on and earn a priceless three points.

Fernando Torres had a Chelsea debut to forget as his new club were beaten 1-0 by former employers Liverpool in the Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge.

After a week of expectation surrounding the Spain striker's British record move to west London, it was Raul Meireles who was the hero thanks to his 69th-minute strike which sealed fourth-straight win for Kenny Dalglish's side and a league double for the Reds over their rivals from the capital.

The fact that Liverpool managed the victory without either of their own big-money signings in action will make victory all the sweeter. Andy Carroll is still missing through injury, while Luis Suarez was an unused substitute. Chelsea's other major January addition, David Luiz, was introduced after his new team were already behind.

The win moves Liverpool up to sixth in the table, while Chelsea remain fourth and 10 points behind leaders Manchester United following their defeat at Wolves on Saturday.

With all the attention focused on Torres's debut against his former club, and following an extraordinary set of results from Saturday's fixtures, it was perhaps no surprise that much of this clash was something of an anti-climax.

The recent history between these two clubs has served up its fair share of thrilling encounters, but equally there have been several damp squibs, and this match largely fell into the latter category.

However, Liverpool fans will not care about that after Torres had his inauspicious first appearance ended when he was substituted on 66 minutes, having had just 29 touches of the ball.

Even when freed from the restraints of trying to accommodate their new acquisition, Chelsea's attack continued to lack potency and invention as they struggled to find ways through Liverpool's five-man defence.

It looked as though Torres's Chelsea career was set to get off to a dream start when, in the second minute, Maxi Rodriguez played the ball right to the feet of his former team-mate. Torres headed for goal but, with Jamie Carragher and Martin Skrtel in front of him, he could bend his shot off target.

The returning Carragher, making his first appearance since November, was the bookies' favourite to foul Torres first, but it was Daniel Agger who took that dubious honour when he barged the Spaniard over midway through the half. The resulting free-kick led to a corner from which Branislav Ivanovic glanced wide.

Soon afterwards Didier Drogba played Torres through and the £50 million man got in behind Skrtel to shoot on the turn, but his strike was blocked by the diving Carragher.

Maxi's day went from bad to worse when Steven Gerrard's dangerous low ball across the six-yard box was turned on to the bar by the Argentine midfielder from point-blank range with the goal at his mercy.

The second half again failed to ignite, with clear chances few and far between. Glen Johnson fired a shot from range wide before Drogba had an effort inside the box blocked by Martin Kelly and Anelka fired wide from distance.

Torres's poor afternoon was ended on 66 minutes when he was replaced by Salomon Kalou, and he had barely got settled on his new team's bench when Liverpool went in front.

Petr Cech and Ivanovic had been at each other's throats in the first half when they got in each other's way trying to clear the ball, and their poor communication cost them a goal and ultimately the match. Both players left it to the other to deal with Gerrard's cross and the ball run between them and through to Meireles who finished to score his fourth goal in his last five games. It was the first league goal scored by a Liverpool player at Stamford Bridge since Bruno Cheyrou's strike in 2004.

The visiting fans, who had brought banners bearing slogans such as "He Who Betrays Will Always Walk Alone" and "Torres: a pawn on our chess board but the King remains", goaded their former idol with chants of "Torres, what's the score?", and Chelsea were unable to stem the abuse aimed at the bench by finding an equaliser.

The closest they came was when Anelka played through substitute Florent Malouda, whose shot at the near post was parried by Reina, and their desperate claims for a late penalty when Ivanovic was barged over by Johnson were ignored by the referee.

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti vented his frustration at the fourth official, but he has now been left in no doubt about the task on his hands in fitting his new marquee signing into his team.