After suffering a 1-0 loss away to Basel in the Champions League, Liverpool looked to bounce back domestically as they played host to West Bromwich Albion with the Reds line-up showing three notable changes from midweek.
Rickie Lambert was handed a first start since joining from Southampton in place of Mario Balotelli with Adam Lallana and Alberto Moreno included in place of Lazar Markovic and Jose Enrique and the best chance of the opening exchanges saw Steven Gerrard sweep in a free-kick which the Baggies defended well.
Craig Dawson attempted an overhead kick from 20 yards but failed to find the target while Rickie Lambert was unable to connect to a clever cross from Adam Lallana but the biggest chance came in the 18th minute as Martin Skrtel winged a pass to Rickie Lambert who powered a shot at goal only to be denied by a fine save from Ben Foster.
Simon Mignolet kept the sides level with just minutes before the interval with a five save after Saido Berahino had shrugged off pressure from Steven Gerrard and Dejan Lovren to hit a strong shot which the Belgian saved well but West Brom had a superb chance to go ahead as Sebastien Pocognoli swept in a superb cross but to the relief of the home fans, Saido Berahino was unable to finish with a headed effort which went over.
Rickie Lambert was handed a first start since joining from Southampton in place of Mario Balotelli with Adam Lallana and Alberto Moreno included in place of Lazar Markovic and Jose Enrique and the best chance of the opening exchanges saw Steven Gerrard sweep in a free-kick which the Baggies defended well.
Craig Dawson attempted an overhead kick from 20 yards but failed to find the target while Rickie Lambert was unable to connect to a clever cross from Adam Lallana but the biggest chance came in the 18th minute as Martin Skrtel winged a pass to Rickie Lambert who powered a shot at goal only to be denied by a fine save from Ben Foster.
Simon Mignolet kept the sides level with just minutes before the interval with a five save after Saido Berahino had shrugged off pressure from Steven Gerrard and Dejan Lovren to hit a strong shot which the Belgian saved well but West Brom had a superb chance to go ahead as Sebastien Pocognoli swept in a superb cross but to the relief of the home fans, Saido Berahino was unable to finish with a headed effort which went over.
Liverpool responded well and went ahead just seconds before the interval as Adam Lallana pulled a one-two with Jordan Henderson before rifling a shot past a helpless Ben Foster to open the scoring and Liverpool began the second half well but were soon pegged back in the 55th minute.
A bright move from West Brom saw Saido Berahino collected a pass just 20 yards from goal and in attempting to evade a challenge from Dejan Lovren on the edge of the area, he went down and strangely a penalty was awarded despite the tackle clearly being outside the area. Berahino stepped up and slotted past Simon Mignolet for 1-1.
However, Liverpool were soon back in front on the hour as after Raheem Sterling looked to have been barged off the ball by Craig Gardner, he got up and found Jordan Henderson who propelled a shot into the left corner to the joy of the celebrating Kop.
A double change saw Glen Johnson complete his comeback from injury with Mario Balotelli also coming on and the latter came close to a rapid impact as he linked up with Henderson and Lallana to create a rasping volley that went just past the post.
West Brom looked to draw level as Chris Brunt swept in a cross which found Saido Berahino but the resulting headed effort found the welcoming hands of Simon Mignolet but the hosts were on the hunt for a third goal and a nice passing play between Mario Balotelli and Steven Gerrard, saw the former look to test Ben Foster but the strike lacked enough power to trouble the Baggies stopper.
However, Liverpool managed to hold on and record a first league win since August to send them into the International break on a high.
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