Yossi Benayoun fired a hat-trick as Liverpool beat Premier League new boys Burnley 4-0 at Anfield.Liverpool made two changes to the side that won at Bolton a fortnight ago.
Martin Skrtel returned to central defence in place of Greece international Sotirios Kyrgiakos, and with Javier Mascherano picking up a muscle injury while on international duty with Argentina, Yossi Benayoun came into midfield.
The absence of Mascherano meant that Steven Gerrard played in a much deeper role, alongside Lucas Leiva in the centre of midfield, while Benayoun and Dirk Kuyt were left to play just behind Fernando Torres.
The creativity produced by Benayoun showed he can help ease the pressure on Gerrard and Torres, and the lively Israel captain scored the opening goal with a fine individual effort in the 27th minute. He surged from midfield, turned away from Graham Alexander and moved into the box to fire across Jensen and into the bottom corner.
Liverpool went further ahead after 40 minutes with a dynamic five-man break from defence. Torres and Insua combined to set up Benayoun for a 20-yard shot that Jensen blocked, but only as far as Kuyt, who clipped the ball home from five yards.
Gerrard, playing in a deeper midfield role, still made an impact in attack as he forced his way into the Burnley box before squaring a ball for Benayoun to tap in for his second, and Liverpool’s third goal.
With the points secure, Benitez took the opportunity to give Philipp Degen his league debut 14 months into his Anfield stay.
This was Benayoun's day, however. The Israeli was denied a hat-trick by the offside flag after pouncing on another Jensen parry but he was not to be denied a second time when in the 81st minute, Voronin’s pass sent him clear in the box and he side-footed the ball past an exposed Jensen, having being played onside by Jordan.
Watch all the Liverpool goals here.
In their next match, Liverpool will kick-off their 2009-10 Champions League campaign with a home encounter against Debreceni on Wednesday. The Hungarian champions are something of an unknown quantity to the Reds as the two teams have never faced each other before.
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