Sunderland 0-2 Liverpool

Rafael Benitez came into this season knowing that to win the title he needed to find a cure for last term's travel sickness - and his side's start to this campaign suggests he has succeeded. Momo Sissoko and Andriy Voronin's first Premier league goals meant Liverpool were rewarded for a solid performance at Sunderland with three points.

The home side weren't helped by the absences-through-injury of Carlos Edwards and Dean Whitehead, and their creative options were further diminished when Kieran Richardson had to withdraw after just 20 minutes. But by then, it was already apparent that Roy Keane's rookies would be lucky to get anything from a game that they started particularly badly. Voronin could have scored in the first minute when he latched on to a sloppy Greg Halford back pass - Craig Gordon saved smartly.

Keane said afterwards that he "didn't have too many complaints about the result" and that Liverpool "just had too much quality for us", but at times in the first half Liverpool appeared reluctantly to place their trust in that quality, preferring to punt long balls forward rather than pick their way through the middle. But whenever Voronin, Fernando Torres or Jermaine Pennant were provided with decent possession, they made clever and dangerous use of it.

Both Pennant and Voronin were involved in the opening goal, combining neatly on the right before the Ukranian teed up Sissoko for a shot from 20 yards. The Malian had missed embarrassingly from a similar position just moments earlier, but this time his shot was hard and true, and though Gordon got a hand to it, it fizzed into the bottom corner.

All Sunderland could muster by way of response was admirable enthusiasm; they never seriously threatened Jose Reina's goal, even though Liverpool had to replace both center-backs, with Sami Hyypia (broken nose) and Jamie Carragher (suspected broken rib) having to leave the action. But for as long as Liverpool were only one ahead, Sunderland, late goal specialists, always had hope - Liverpool had many chances to extinguish it, but Voronin and, in particular, Torres were guilty of missing glaring chances, even if Gordon was in top form.

The inevitable killer strike came in the 86th minute, when the otherwise-disappointing Babel instigated an inspired exchange with Pennant before supplying Torres on the edge of the box. The Spaniard swept the ball to Voronin, who cut inside his marker and rifled a low shot under Gordon and into the net, securing Liverpool their second away win this season.