Liverpool 5 Swansea 0: Reds take full advantage of weak Swans

There was no repeat of the smash-and-grab defeat that West Brom inflicted a week ago, as five different scorers handed Liverpool a thoroughly deserved first win in six games.

With one eye on this Sunday’s League Cup final, Michael Laudrup made seven changes to his starting line-up and Brendan Rodgers’s side took full advantage against their manager’s old club by running out comprehensive victors.

Dominant throughout, Liverpool had just one goal to show for their first-half endeavours after Steven Gerrard opened the scoring from the spot on 32 minutes.

Luis Suarez, who was a thorn in the side of the visiting Swans throughout, went down under a clumsy challenge by Kemi Augustien, giving the Liverpool skipper a chance to make amends for his missed penalty on his previous Anfield outing.

Daniel Sturridge came close to adding a second with five minutes left on the clock, but Rogers’s men stepped it up in the second half, sealing the win with three goals in 13 minutes.

Just 21 seconds after the restart Philippe Coutinho marked his home debut with his first goal in a red shirt, smashing in from the edge of the box after being put through by Suarez.

Jose Enrique prodded an inviting ball across the box into the roof of the net to make it 3-0 and Suarez netted the best of the lot for the fourth, ghosting past Kyle Bartley and Garry Monk before placing an inch-perfect curling shot into the bottom corner.

It was left to Sturridge, who had been involved in a personal duel with Vorm throughout, to close the scoring as he finally got one over his Dutch opponent from the spot in the 70th minute after a harsh hand ball call against substitute Wayne Routledge.