by Mark Storey
Pompey moved another step closer to relegation at Liverpool on Monday night.
The Blues lacked fight and purpose for large chunks of the game and were destroyed by three first-half goals in less than six minutes.
Fernando Torres added Liverpool’s fourth – and his second – late on before Nadir Belhadj netted a late consolation for Avram Grant’s side.
The Blues have not won at Anfield since 1951 and that statistic that never looked like being threatened.
Jamie Ashdown was at fault for Liverpool’s opener on 26 minutes, which was rolled into an unguarded net by Torres after Steven Gerrard had charged down the keeper’s clearance.
Ashdown, deputising for David James, who has a calf injury, was beaten again two minutes later.
But this time it was the defenders in front of him who were to blame as they failed to produce a decent tackle as Ryan Babel cut inside and found the far corner.
He had little chance with the third, either, as Alberto Aquilani was allowed the space to sweep in Gerrard’s pass for his first goal in English football.
It could have been four on 35 minutes but Torres’ shot hit the post before Gerrard fired wide from 12 yards.
Half Time: Liverpool 3 Pompey 0
Ashdown, making only his second Premier League start of the season, made amends for his earlier error with two fine saves early in second half, first from Gerrard at his near post, then to deny Babel, tipping a deflected shot onto the bar.
Frederic Piquionne, whose intelligent runs and pace were Pompey’s main source of menace, had enjoyed the visitors’ best chance of the first half, angling a shot wide of the post after bursting clear down the right.
But it was Michael Brown who was the first to test Pepe Reina with a sweetly-struck drive from 12 yards that looked certain to find the net until the Liverpool keeper flung out an arm.
It was Belhadj’s run that created that chance, but Pompey’s Algerian international may have been a shade fortunate to escape conceding a penalty when former Fratton hero Glen Johnson went down under his challenge.
Greater controversy followed, however, when Gerrard appeared to elbow Brown in the back of the head as they raced for the ball.
Liverpool’s captain escaped punishment but was quickly substituted.
Torres’ second arrived with 13 minutes left, when Ricardo Rocha let the Spain striker cut onto his favoured right foot and drill a shot past Ashdown.
Pompey’s 400 travelling fans were magnificent all night and they got their reward when BELHADJ tucked in Piquionne’s cross at the far post after a fine run by substitute Danny Webber.
Pompey: Ashdown; Finnan, Rocha, Wilson, Hreidarsson (Owusu-Abeyie 76); Brown, Diop (Mokoena 64), O'Hara (Webber 85); Dindane, Belhadj; Piquionne
Goals: Belhadj 88
Booked: Dindane, Mokoena
Subs not used: O'Brien, Mullins, Hughes, Kanu
Liverpool: Reina; Johnson (Kelly 71), Carragher, Agger, Insua; Aquilani, Mascherano; Maxi, Gerrard (Benayoun 74), Babel; Torres (Ngog 80)
Goals: Torres 26, 77, Babel 28, Aquilani 32
Subs not used: Cavalieri, Kyrgiakos, Lucas, Kuyt
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Attendance: 40,316