Raul Meireles stole the headlines as Liverpool claimed a 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

The Portugal midfielder scored the only goal on a day when Fernando Torres made his Chelsea debut following his transfer from Liverpool this week.

The result completes a league double for the Reds over their wealthy rivals and makes it four successive victories for Kenny Dalglish, a sequence which has lifted his side to sixth in the Barclays Premier League.

There were plastic flags at dawn as Chelsea stadium announcer Neil Barnett read out the respective teams. While all eyes were on Torres (although bizarrely the matchday programme opted to feature Ramires on its cover), Dalglish once again decided to begin with Luis Suarez on the bench.

One of two changes for Liverpool saw Jamie Carragher return from a dislocated shoulder sustained at Tottenham on November 28. He would form part of a three-man backline.

The trio were immediately put in danger on two minutes when a loose ball from Maxi Rodriguez gifted you know who a first opportunity to score against his former club. The Spaniard elected to shoot from distance but his effort whirled high into the stands.

There was a lengthy wait before either side mustered another notable chance and again it was a long-range whack from a man in blue - this time Didier Drogba skewing wide.

A low ball down the line by Carragher on 18 minutes presented Liverpool with their first goalscoring opportunity, or at least it would have done had Dirk Kuyt shown as much skill in crossing to an unmarked Meireles as he did in evading the offside trap.

At the other end it took a stretched intervention from Martin Skrtel to cut out a smart Ashley Cole cross - and it cost the Slovakian a few minutes on the sidelines with the physios.

The fact this counts as a flashpoint is indicative of a game that was failing to live up to its billing on a record-breaking weekend for goals in the Barclays Premier League.

A flicked header by Branislav Ivanovic  following a near-post corner at least brought the Chelsea fans off their seats but it was always drifting wide.

Then on 31 minutes the scene Liverpool fans had been scripting in their minds for days: Torres through on goal with just Pepe Reina  to beat only for Carragher to flood in with the kind of late tackle for which he is famed.

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Within a minute or two the ball was at the opposite end of the park where Steven Gerrard was flashing a powerful cross through the face of goal only for Maxi - in the team for Fabio Aurelio - to prod against the crossbar from just three yards.

The first half ended with more drama in the Chelsea penalty area when a Martin Kelly centre caused confusion between Petr Cech and Ivanovic - an incident which almost ended in fisticuffs between the pair.

As the sides re-emerged for the second half, Torres appeared to gravitate towards his old teammates before realising his mistake and rejoining those in blue. It was yet another bizarre footprint on the 26-year-old's journey from Merseyside to the capital.

It was Liverpool who probed first once the whistle had blown, a right-foot smack from Glen Johnson coming close to opening the scores. Drogba and Nicolas Anelka both had chances from there but the visiting defence was holding firm in its quest for a fourth consecutive clean sheet.  

They did look vulnerable on 66 minutes having backed off Anelka before watching his well-struck effort  whizz narrowly the wrong side of the post.

Carlo Ancelotti had seen enough and made the decision to withdraw Torres, who having swapped red for blue looked distinctly off colour.

The change almost paid immediate dividends when Michael Essien drove forward before lashing over the crossbar - but instead it was Liverpool who took the lead.

The goal arrived on 68 minutes when Chelsea's defenders failed to clear a Gerrard cross and allowed Meireles to hook into the net with his left foot at the back post.

The strike - his fourth in five games - made him the only current Liverpool player to have scored in the league at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues retaliated with an Anelka throughball to substitute Florent Malouda only for the France international to be thwarted by Reina.

It might have been 2-0 on 81 minutes when another substitute, Aurelio, turned John Terry in the box before having a rare right-foot hit palmed away by Cech.

In the end one goal proved enough to secure what was only Liverpool's third Stamford Bridge win of the Premier League era.

MotM - Chelsea vs Liverpool

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Who was our Man Of The Match vs Chelsea

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1	Raul Meireles		50% of Votes
2	Jamie Carragher		21% of Votes
3	Lucas Leiva		9% of Votes
4	Steven Gerrard		7% of Votes
5	Dirk Kuyt		4% of Votes
6	Daniel Agger		3% of Votes
7	Martin Kelly		3% of Votes
8	Christian Poulsen		1% of Votes
9	Glen Johnson		1% of Votes
10	Martin Skrtel		0% of Votes
11	Pepe Reina		0% of Votes
12	Maxi Rodriguez		0% of Votes
13	Fabio Aurelio		0% of Votes

Total Votes: 15843