Fernando Torres - what a player. Here is his superb hat-trick from today's game at Anfield.
First goal
Second goal
Third goal
Two great assists from Yossi Benayoun too. As I've argued for ages - start Benayoun and he will invariably score or create goals.

Out of town for the weekend - but didn't miss much on the footie front other than a few surprising World Cup qualifying results. Let's take a look at some of the news coming out of the international break as it pertains to the Premier League:

• Israel crashed out of World Cup qualifying despite dominating their match against Latvia.

With Liverpool's well documented financial woes causing major problems, has every avenue of revenue generation been explored and implemented by the club? David Clarke doesn't think so.
It could just be my age, but I know that throughout my time as a football fan, I have always dreamed of playing for Liverpool and pulling on one of the club's prestigious shirts, like the number ‘7', ‘9' or'10'.

Where would Tottenham Hotspur's second XI finish in the Premier League? You be the judge. I've got: Cudicini - Naughton (or Hutton), Dawson, Woodgate, Bale - Bentley, Jenas, Bostock, Kranjcar - Pavlyuchenko, Crouch.

Is that better than Liverpool's second XI: Diego - Degen, Agger, Kyrgiakos, Fabio Aurelio - Lucas, Plessis - Benayoun, Voronin, Babel - N'Gog?

"Giggs looking to pick out Rooney... who's got there, is that a penalty kick?! What does Mike Dean say?! He says penalty!"

This whole routine is getting a little old, isn't it? Screw diamonds, refereeing mistakes are forever. It's like the referees all convene and decide whose turn it is to make mistake and forbid us from ever forgetting how truly inadequate they are.

A player who gives 100% and could represent the difference between success and failure at Anfield.

Someone remarked to me, midway through last term, whilst I saw in my Anfield seat that Yossi Benayoun is a player that just about everyone values, except for Rafa Benitez. Now whilst the statement was a little over the top it did have some resonance in reality and hopefully now our boss realises just how important the Israeli utility man can be for the club.

As I predicted yesterday, Xavier Masherano is out injured and does not make the squad.Steven Gerrard goes back into central midfield alongside Lucas.Benayoun plays behind Torres upfront with Riera wide on the left.Aurelio doesn't even make the bench.Team in full;Reina,Johnson,Insua,Carragher,Skertel,Lucas,Gerrard,Riera,Benayoun,Kuyt,Torres

Liverpool team to face Burnley at Anfield today: Reina, Johnson, Insua, Carragher, Skrtel, Lucas, Gerrard, Riera, Benayoun, Kuyt, Torres. Subs: Cavalieri, Degen, Dossena, Spearing, Ngog, Voronin, Kyrgiakos.

Yossi Benayoun may have scored a hat-trick and set up another goal in today's 4-0 drubbing of Burnley but manager Rafael Benitez attributes another player as Liverpool's show-stealer. Brazilian youngster Lucas Leiva - heavily criticised by the Anfield faithful for an as-yet mediocre two years in England - has his manager purring.

This is by no means a gimme!

Liverpool welcome back Javier Mascherano after he missed the win over Burnley with a pelvic injury suffered on international duty.

Manager Rafael Benitez does not have any other injury problems apart from long term absentees Daniel Agger and Alberto Aquilani.

There is no denying that Liverpool F.C. is the form team in the Barclays Premier League at the moment. Rafa's Reds have defied all odds to overcome a frustrating start to the campaign and surprisingly, the Steven Gerrard - Fernando Torres pairing isn't exclusively responsible for leading the revival.

Rafa Benitez's rather dubious explanation for Yossi Benayoun's perennial bench status over the last two seasons is (arguably) as ludicrous as it is inaccurate.
In a recent interview, Rafa made the following observations:
'I was talking to Yossi about how he has always been fantastic coming off the bench and he told me he could do even more if I gave him a chance from the start'.

Yossi Benayoun believes Pepe Reina's form so far this season has reaffirmed his status as the Premier League's top goalkeeper.
The Spanish shot-stopper has been one of the Reds' standout performers in their opening four matches.
Reina, who has won the Golden Gloves award three times in the past four years, has pulled off a string of excellent saves.

There's no real surprises here, but it's interesting to note that Kelly got the nod over Degen for the group stages. Aside from that, it's business as usual and there's just 10 days left before we start our campaign.
Goalkeepers - Reina, Cavalieri, Martin
Defenders - Johnson, Agger, Insua, Carragher, Skrtel, Aurelio, Kyrgiakos, Darby, Kelly, Dossena
Midfielders - Aquilani, Gerrard, Mascherano, Lucas, Riera, Benayoun, Babel, Spearing, Plessis
Forwards - Torres, Kuyt, Voronin, NGog, Amoo, Eccleston

Benitez makes it very clear to this pair that they both have plenty to prove.

Babel has revealed he would be interested in a loan move to Ajax when the transfer window reopens in January, while Riera made only his first start of the campaign at Bolton last weekend.

Benitez insists both players will get chances to shine over the coming months and that it will then be down to them to seize the opportunities which come their way.

Rafa Benitez is confident that Argentina midfielder Javier Mascherano will be fit for the start of Liverpool's Champions League campaign.
Mascherano was missing as his side demolished Burnley 4-0 at Anfield, with his replacement Yossi Benayoun scoring the third hat-trick of his Liverpool career.

The Liverpool team to face Debrecen at Anfield tonight: Reina, Insua, Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Lucas, Gerrard, Benayoun, Riera, Kuyt, Torres. Subs: Kyrgiakos, Aurelio, Voronin, Babel, Cavalieri, Spearing, Mascherano.

Going to the game I started thinking to myself: how is it that I'm always tense before a match? Whilst everyone around me was confidently predicting 5 or 6 nil wins, I was praying that Debrecen wouldn't cause some surprise.
Forty five minutes into the game and my fears were being fulfilled.

Liverpool travel to Upton Park today to face a Hammers side that has 4 points from 4 games, losing away to Wigan their last time out. Last time the Reds visited the Boleyn Ground they cruised to a 3-0 win, with Gerrard netting twice and Ryan Babel finishing the scoring off late.

This time out could be different Liverpool are a club desperately in need of finding consistent form, and the performance against Debrecen on Wednesday was less than encouraging.

A week ago I said that Rafael Benitez will have been looking for more of his side other that Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to join Yossi Benayoun as match-winners but the Liverpool manager will still be delighted with his star striker's two-goal blast at West Ham.
It's not like the Spanish international has been struggling in front of goal so far this season – he netted in three consecutive Premier League games against Stoke, Aston Villa and Bolton last month – but his brace at Upton Park signalled a return to the kind of devastating form he is capable of.

Good news from Anfield as summer signing Alberto Aquilani has begun running after his protracted ankle problem finally seems to have been cleared up, lets hope he is soon fit for first-team as I am dying to get a look at the play maker bought to try to replace the Great Xabi Alonso. That's for another day as we face Hull at Anfield today where we will be looking for a good win to avenge last season's 2-2 draw in the same fixture when Stevie Gerrrard brought us back from the dead with two fine goals after Hull had gone two up after a McShane header and a Carra own goal had left us scratching our heads at half-time.

A few weekend injuries to be aware of as we begin an action packed mid-week of European fixtures...

• Arsenal's injury woes continue as Denilson is out for two months with a back injury. This means more playing time in defensive midfled for the likes of "yellow card machine" Song and "can't finish any of my chances" Diaby.

Burnley went down tamely .Yossi Benayoun scored three and Kuyt chipped in with one more to make that a tidy four goals to nothing.

Yossi Benayoun hopes his hat-trick in Liverpool's 4-0 success over Burnley can help secure regular first-team football under Rafa Benitez.
The former West Ham winger has featured frequently as a substitute during his two seasons with the Anfield side.
The Israel international acknowledges competition for places in Benitez's side is fierce, but that has not diminished his desire to become a regular.

Charlie Nicholas believes Yossi Benayoun underlined his value to Liverpool as his hat-trick blew Burnley away at Anfield.
The Isreal international was making his third start of the season, but pressed his claims for a permanent starting role as Rafa Benitez's side ran riot against the Premier League newcomers.

Top notch youngster benefiting from regular run in Boro side.

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An exodus of a number of Middlesbrough's first-team players was inevitable following their relegation to the Championship, but manager Gareth Southgate hopes he can keep hold of the club's star players for the foreseeable future.

Bookmaker and Liverpool FC partner Paddy Power caused a predictable outrage when they opened betting on "the next Liverpool player burglary whilst they are playing".

Take a minute to soak in what a stupid, yet tastelessly hilarious idea that was.

As you can probably guess, betting was quickly shut down after the club found out about it and some fans contacted Merseyside Police, who probably weren't too keen on the idea of giving burglars even more financial incentive to rob players, considering it's already happened more than a dozen times, including the 2007 incident where Steven Gerrard's wife was held at gunpoint during a burglary while he was away for a Champions League match.

Liverpool name an unchanged team for their opening Champion's League game at Anfield against Hungarian new-boys Debrecen.
Steven Gerrard and Lucas Lieva stay in midfield with no place for fit-again Xavier Mascherano whostarts on the bench.
The Team is:
Reina,
Johnson,
Carragher,
Skrtel,
Insua,
Lucas,
Gerrard,
Riera,
Kuyt,
Benayoun,
Torres.

Surely none of you really thought that Debreceni were going to present Liverpool with any obstacles. For the vast majority of the match it was all one way traffic against the whipping boys of the group.
Yet that didn't translate into us scoring lots of goals. Lucas, Kuyt, and Benayoun all had very good games, but it was a lacklustre performance from the rest of the lads.

. The goal scored by Dirk Kuyt during first half stoppage time was enough to give Liverpool a victory on Matchday 1 of the Champions League against Debreceni. The visitors could be let off the hook for the edgy display in the early stages, as they are the first Hungarian side to grace the competition in 14 [.

Darren Bent

Sunderland received a wonderful gift when they acquired Darren Bent in a transfer deal. The forward has been among the best transfers of any top level squad and this weekend he proved why once again. Bent scored two goals in the club's 4-1 win over Hull City and the forward would score in both halfs of play.

Before yesterday I knew about as much about Debreceni VSC as I know about the Faint Object Spectograph on the Hubble Telescope. They are among the "new kids" in the Champions League and not knowing anything about their club (or their league) forced me to underestimate them greatly. I assumed this would be an easy win for Liverpool.

Andy Reid, Jason Roberts, David Dunn. What do they all have in common?

No, it isn't that at regular intervals, their respective managers have prefixed the mentioning of their names with a string of expletives, bemoaning their inconsistency/fitness/existence. It isn't even that they have, at some stage of their careers, been signed for a sum that made most people remark "how much?

Dirk Kuyt's first half effort handed Liverpool an unconvincing 1 – 0 win over battling Debrecen at Anfield.

Boss Rafa Benitez, celebrating his 300th game in charge of Liverpool, named an unchanged side to the one that beat Burnley 4 – 0 on Saturday – but it was the Hungarian champions that came closest to taking a shock lead, Peter Czvitkovics testing Pepe Reina with a stinging drive.

12:30pm, live in the US on FSC
Last 4 head-to-head:
3-0 Liverpool (a) 05.09.09
0-0 (h) 12.01.08
4-0 Liverpool (h) 03.05.08
0-1 West Ham (a) 01.30.08
Last three matches:
Liverpool: 1-0 Debrecen (h); 4-0 Burnley (h); 3-2 Bolton (a)
West Ham: 0-1 Wigan (a); 0-0 Blackburn (a); 3-1 Millwall (h)
Goalscorers (league):
Liverpool: Benayoun, Torres 3; Gerrard, Johnson, Kuyt 2; Ngog 1
West Ham: Cole, Noble, Upson 1
Referee: Andre Marriner
Guess at a squad:
Reina
Johnson Carragher Skrtel Insua
Lucas Mascherano
Kuyt Gerrard Benayoun
Torres
Three games in one week usually leads to rotation in a Benitez side, but we saw the same XI against both Burnley and Debrecen.

Ask any observer to pinpoint a weakness in Liverpool's squad, and it won't take long before conversation gravitates around a familiar failing.
In Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, Rafael Benitez boasts perhaps the most devastating attack partnership in Europe.
But beyond the fearsome duo, the Spaniard does not appear to have the wealth of striking options available to many Premier League rivals.

Back on track

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West Ham's new Mexico striker Guillermo Franco only signed on Thursday and is unlikely to feature.
Alessandro Diamanti may make his full debut, while Kieron Dyer (hamstring) returns along with Herita Ilunga whose cheekbone injury has healed.

Stevie G and Fernando Torres link-up again as they did last season.
Xavier Mascherano and Lucas play in midfield, while Albert Riera drops to tne bench today.
Team in full: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Insua, Kuyt, Mascherano, Lucas, Benayoun, Gerrard, Torres.

Reina, Johnson, Insua, Carragher, Skrtel, Mascherano, Lucas, Benayoun, Kuyt, Gerrard, Torres. Subs: Cavalieri, Riera, Aurelio, Kyrgiakos, Babel, Degen, Dossena.

Javier Mascherano has been dropped to the bench in favour of Lucas Leiva in a surprising move by Rafa Benitez.
He partners Stevie G in midfield with Benayoun playing just behind Torres upfront.
The Team : Riena, Insua, Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Lucas, Gerrard, Riera, Benayoun, Kuyt, Torres.