Nine-man Liverpool went down to a 3-1 defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Liverpool defenders Philipp Degen and Jamie Carragher were sent off for fouls and goals from Bobby Zamora, Erik Nevland and Clint Dempsey gave Roy Hodgson's side a deserved victory. Fernando Torres grabbed the one consolation for Liverpool.
Bizarrely, it was a match in which Liverpool enjoyed the majority of the possession.
A match in which they pressed forward with lots of effort, often against a wall of white shirts. But a match in which for vast swathes they struggled to supply the quality to go with their industry.
They must have wondered, however, quite how they found themselves behind after 24 minutes.
Fulham had not had a single shot on Jose Reina's goal.
But shortly after Yossi Benayoun had produced an acrobatic volley which fairly rattled the Fulham crossbar the home side broke away.
Raking cross
The ball came to Damien Duff on the left and that trusty left foot curled in a raking cross which bisected the Liverpool defence and allowed Zamora to tap home from close range.
While Liverpool continued to press forward they struggled to produce the high tempo and urgency they had demonstrated in the 2-0 win against Manchester United last Sunday.
And when the equaliser came they could hardly put it down to rhythm and style. Instead it was fashioned out of nothing, but by the predator supreme.
There appeared to be little danger for the Fulham defence when the ball came to Andriy Voronin. His header was weak and misdirected but it cannoned off a Fulham defender and arced into the hitting zone of Torres.
He needed no more invitation. The Spaniard simply swivelled and swung his right boot and a fabulous volley from the edge of the box fairly scorched past Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.
surged down
It was Torres' 10th league goal of the season and only demonstrated once more his value to Liverpool.
Fulham manager Roy Hodgson made a double substitution at half-time, bringing on Zoltan Gera for Diomansy Kamara and Nevland for Duff.
It was an attempt to push Liverpool back and stem the pounding and it had some success. In fact, Fulham might have re-taken the lead on the hour mark when Zamora fired over a cross and Gera swivelled and shot but unfortunately straight at goalkeeper Reina.
They did take the lead, however, after 74 minutes and once more it was against the run of play.
This time Paul Konchesky surged down the left hand side and Reina could only parry his cross. The ball was headed back across goal by Gera and there was Nevland to slide the ball into the net.
It got worse for Liverpool four minutes later when Swiss defender Degen was sent off for a foul on Dempsey.
Incredibly three minutes later Liverpool were down to nine men when Carragher brought down Zamora and also received a red card.
And to wrap up an afternoon to forget for Benitez, Dempsey rolled in the third for Fulham as Liverpool disintegrated.
